


A Piece of Cake

by TelepathicTeaTime



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Bonding over a cute puppy, F/M, Turns out everyone in Overwatch just really wants a dog, Who doesn't love puppies, more platonic than romantic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-22
Packaged: 2018-09-11 05:46:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8956786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TelepathicTeaTime/pseuds/TelepathicTeaTime
Summary: Falling in love with the wounded pup they rescued while out a mission was easy for Mei and Junkrat. Learning to get along with each other for its sake? Not such a cakewalk after all.





	1. The Wrong Foot

**Author's Note:**

> Behold! The reason why "Something Strange" has been gathering dust and not been updated in months! I decided to represent Meihem in the first Overwatch Big Bang event, and what was originally planned as a sweet and simple oneshot quickly spiraled (as usual) into something a little longer. I decided to write this in a more platonic approach than my usual Meihem stuff just because my ongoing fic is already a romance and I don't want to be using up any of the great ideas I have planned for it~
> 
> Anyway, it's great to be back my Meihem fam, and I hope you enjoy!

War was a terribly noisy thing. War came in the sharp pops of gunshots and the rolling thunder of bombs, it echoed in the final rasps of the dying and the stricken wails of those left behind.  It was homes collapsing in on families who had built their lives within the walls, and then losing them there as well. These noises carried with them a terrible burden, a warning to all who heard its dirge that war was something to be avoided at all costs.

It was music to Junkrat’s ears, a real symphony of destruction.  He hummed cheerfully to himself as he hobbled through the alleyways of Dorado, which echoed with the terrible racket of opposing forces trying to destroy one another and filling him up with a sense of joy he really only felt when there was someone who needed to be blown up. Luckily for him, today’s mission promised there’d be plenty of such unfortunate someone’s for him to meet.

“La da da la da da daaaah~!”

Though Winston had been sure to remind him not just twice, but _four painstakingly patient times_ since leaving the base this morning of their mission objective, the name of the group of blokes he was supposed to be blowing up in particular had slipped through one of the many holes in his brain (most things usually did but hey, what could he do? Radiation was a real fuck-all.) but it didn’t matter a single tick to him anyways. All he knew was that if he spotted anyone with a skull painted on their face, _KA-BOOM!!!_ They wouldn’t be needing face paint to look so dead anymore.

Speaking of-

A colorful pinata that had been swaying carefreely overhead suddenly popped under a hail of bullets, sprinkling his bare and burnt shoulders in bright confetti and sweets.

Ignoring the fact that the bullets had been meant to burst his head and not the poor paper mache creature now in pieces around him, Junkrat dove to the ground not in alarm for his life, but in greed.

“Ooooh, lollies! _Mine!”_  

Both organic and robot hand alike became desperate claws as he dug through the pinata’s candy innards, hopeful to see the neon monsters of a Wizz Fizz packet or the teeth cracking treasure of Cobbers. Those of more sound mind would argue that the men actively trying to kill him should have been a bigger priority to Junkrat than trying to find his favorite childhood candy (and what would local Australian candy be doing in a Spanish pinata anyways?) but he had no need to worry. He had someone else to take care of the chore that was keeping him alive.

“Oi, Roadie, take care ’ah these chumps while I find us the good stuff, aw’rite?” He commanded breezily over his shoulder to the massive tank of violence that was his bodyguard and best mate Roadhog. Maybe it made him a bit of a bludger leaving all the scraping for the other man to take care of, but Junkrat knew his fellow Junker didn’t mind.  Built like a shit brick house, Roadhog was _made_ for killing and seemed to enjoy doing it even more than Junkrat did, which was saying an awful lot; his bellowing, belly-shaking laughter muffled by his swine mask whenever he rumbled through the battlefield with hook in hand and tusked shotgun at the ready. There was nothing more reassuring than watching the mate tasked with keeping you alive making everyone else _not so alive._

Besides, there were only a few of the knockers taking shots at them right now from just beyond the alley, nothing Hog couldn’t handle on his own. Junkrat had seen him take down a lot more serious threats before, and in greater numbers to boot. These bastards would be nothing but chum by the time Roadie was done with ‘em...

Smug in his confidence, Junkrat turned back to rummage through the candy when-

_Ping! Ping!_

A few bullets lodged themselves into the grill of his robotic arm, crumpled in their lethal tracks to fall smoking into his pile of sweets. The shots hadn’t hurt him one bit of course, but the inconvenience sure got his engine revving hot and mad.  

“Bloody hell, Hog?!” He screeched, opting not to berate the people shooting at him, but the man responsible for shooting the people shooting at him. It was just how his sense of logic functioned.

Junkrat leapt up with a quickness that was unhindered by his lone limb, his metal knee only squeaking with the sudden effort, and turned to snarl at Roadhog further to find that…

_Roadhog wasn’t there._

Now Junkrat was a man of certainty. He was certainly a bit unhinged, he certainly hated omnics, and he certainly loved taking anything he could steal from anyone else. What Junkrat was uncertain of in this moment, though, was how he had managed to lose sight of a bloke the size of Roadhog, an accomplishment in itself if he did say so himself. In fact, it was nearly brilliant in its incredibility! _He was so bloody brilliant!_

Feeling quite pleased with himself, Junkrat couldn’t help but dissolve into a fit of excited giggles, even as another bullet whizzed right past his ear shrill and hot. “Ahahahaha! Wait ‘til I tell Roadie ‘bout all this! Erm, if I ever manage ta find the fat bastard that is…But first!”

His wide, manic smile did not falter even when he turned to find that the two or three guys who had been taking lousy aim at him had swelled into a group of six with guns raised high in his direction. There’d be no lack of accuracy this close.

“Ahhh, lookie here! A whole firin’ squad just for lil ol’ me?” He placed a hand over his heart as if touched by the gesture, regarding the dangerous criminals set on ending his life the same way someone does a group of friends throwing them a surprise birthday party. “Ya shouldn’t have!”

A sudden fire blazed in Junkrat’s eyes then, a dangerous and crazed flame hungry to destroy anything or anyone unfortunate enough to be in its path. It was the same look many omnic and person alike had seen in their final moments on Earth after meeting the infamous criminal, something he bestowed almost like a parting gift alongside his bombs. “Ya really _shouldn’t have.”_

From where his hand still lay against his chest he quickly unhooked one of his shoulder grenades and launched it at the group of Los Muertos who had been converging on him, the shock barely registering on their painted faces before they realized what he had done.

“Una bomba! Una-” One cried out desperately to the others, but by then it was meaningless for him to say anything at all. _Boom!_

Junkrat watched the carnage from over his shoulder with a giggle, forever tickled by the sound of one of his explosives detonating, and scrambled into the nearest forking alleyway to buy himself some space and time. The smaller grenade had taken out at least two of the bunch, but four on one was still a bit unfair. In fact, it put quite a damper on his good cheer to be the one having to retreat at all.

“I wish Pigface hadn’t gotten himself lost! ” He grumbled in annoyance, throwing down the silver smile of one of his bear traps right around the corner he was rounding. One of the men pursuing him had made the foolish mistake of tailing him directly, and Junkrat was going to make sure he paid for it in pounds… of flesh that is. Surely enough, a few moments later a metallic snap echoed behind him, followed just a heartbeat later by screams of absolute anguish, of someone who most likely would never be able to walk again.

Usually at this point Junkrat would throw out a joke at their expense, a cheeky “Watch yer step!” or “Hope ya like yer new shoes!” but he was too irritated to even think of a funny one.

“Now I gotta do all the work! By _meself!_ ” He was positively miffed, thinking of all the lollies he had been forced to leave behind just to stay alive. That was Roadhog’s job to make sure he kept kicking, that’s what he had hired him for, paid him for, right?

The Junker growled, tightening his grip on his frag launcher in his aggravation. “When I see that fat bastard again, I’m gonna- _oof!”_

He had suddenly slammed into something soft and round, but sturdy enough to send him tripping over his peg leg and ass backwards to the ground. It had felt a lot like Roadhog’s massive tattooed belly, and he snapped his head up with a snarl, ready to give the other Junker an earful to find-

It wasn’t Roadhog’s black swine mask looking down on him, but big brown eyes staring at him through a pair of even bigger specs.

“Oi, Snowball! Watch where ya going!”

Mei Zhou’s full moon of a face, which had been clouded with worry that she had knocked someone over, darkened like an eclipse as soon as she realized exactly who it was she had run into.

“Junkrat,” She sighed, her voice as cold as the neon blue slush in her blaster. “I’m... _sorry_ to have run into you.” She shook her head and the snowflake ornament in her hair swayed with the motion, as she mumbled, more to herself than him, _“Really sorry…”_

Looking at where he remained on the ground, glowering at her, she tentatively offered him a gloved hand to help him up, but he knocked it away with a snort.

“Ya gave me enough help sendin’ me to tha ground,” He sniffed as he got back to his feet,well, foot- brushing off his shorts as if they hadn’t been absolutely filthy to begin with before the fall, “I can at least get back up on me own, ta!”

Junkrat took great pleasure in how he towered over her in his height now standing, how the frosty lil sheila had to tip her head back ever so slightly just to glare in his face, and he curled his lip at her in a gold-toothed sneer. “Y’know Snowball, there’s better ways to knock me off me feet! Poetry, flowers,” He waggled his singed eyebrows at her suggestively, “Foreplaaaay? Ahahaha!”

His laughter only grew as Mei’s face flushed red not with blush, but with anger, her finger inching towards the trigger of her gun as if she was contemplating freezing him on the spot. She was so easy to work up like this, had been since him and Hog’s very first day working for this Overwatch piss. After Winston had finished introducing them to everyone, the bespectacled gorilla insisting more than once that they were “reformed” and that “they weren’t just here on a payroll” ( _“Bollocks!”_ Junkrat had wheezed under his breath, poorly disguised as a cough that fooled absolutely no one in the room) she had stomped up to them with her little button nose in the air and before he could even offer her a simple “G’day!” had spat,

“I know what you two _bullies_ have done, and I do _not_ approve of you being here!” She had lowered her glasses down her nose to glare at them, eyes glinting like ice, and had not so much said to them as she did promise, “ _I will be watching you.”_ Before hurrying away to rejoin the others, who were all casting dubious stares in their direction, contemplating the safety of their material possessions now that the Junkers were there.

Watching her retreating form, small but with all the force of a blizzard, Junkrat had merely slapped the back of his hand against Roadhog’s arm and barked, “Well! That was a fine how-do-ya-do, wasn’t it Hog?”

That was all fine and dandy by Junkrat. Sure numerous countries the world over were clamoring for his head, and _sure,_ maybe they wanted his head because he was a violent, explosive-happy criminal who probably deserved to be locked up for a lifetime or two, but Junkrat knew that despite all of that, he was actually a pretty stand up bloke. He was sure he’d be able to prove that to Mei eventually, and she’d warm right up to him.

Eventually was just taking a lot longer than he had thought it would. It had been a couple of months since Mei had first issued her warning to the Junkers, and despite his best efforts to tease and joke with her, which had slowly won over some of the other team members, and only blowing up what Overwatch told him to (He had been crime free for  all those months! Well, save for a bit of looting here and there while on missions, but nothing that nobody would miss… _probably)_ , here she stood still glowering at him like he was somehow below her, something to be crushed under her big blocky boot.

“You! _You!”_ She fumed at him, just as disgusted by him now as she had been when they first met. “I cannot believe you! We are out on a mission, a _dangerous_ one at that, and here you are, making dumb jokes!” She turned her face away from him, her gloves clenched into trembling fists. “Unbelievable!”

From over her shoulder, Junkrat glimpsed the glowing eyes of her little snowbot glaring at him in agreement, its ears pointed back in disgust. He stuck his tongue out at it, glaring right back.

“Oi, tell yer lil bucket o’bolts there that if it wants ta scrap, come ‘n get it!” He snapped, pointing a black nail threateningly at Mei’s companion. He had blown up bots a hundred times bigger than this little runt, it’d almost be a waste of a bomb to blow up one so small, but if it didn’t wipe that look off of its glowing blue face, he really wouldn’t have any qualms about doing so. It beeped at him as if in challenge, unafraid.  Mei glanced from the little robot to Junkrat and back incredulously at first, then her brows lowering in a glare in his direction. “You cannot be-”

“You want a fight, you Overwatch pieces of shit!? You got one right here!” A sudden blast roared between the pair, angry and hot against Junkrat’s exposed skin and sending him into a heap against the nearby wall, which was littered in anti-omnic graffiti he would have admired if everything didn’t _hurt so bloody damn bad…_

When the ringing in his ears had died down to a muffled buzz and his vision stopped blinking in and out of the same black and white of TV snow, he saw he was surrounded by the same blokes he had been running from earlier, plus a few friends and weapons more. There was also a bit of snow swirling along the ground, catching confetti in its icy breeze, but besides that,  Mei was nowhere to be found. Either she’d been blown to pieces, or she had abandoned him to a one on ten fight, but of course, he was still the big bad bloke...

Laughing without mirth, he turned a cheeky smile to the group lining up their shots to do him in. “C-copycats!” He spat a lob of blood that had bubbled up in his throat at the men, but it went no further than his own boot, the sound almost pitiful as it hit the ground. “Bombs are _my_ thing- ‘n oi! _OI! THAT’S Me THING TOO YA WHACKER!_ ”

One of the goons had snatched up Junkrat’s frag launcher from where he had dropped it in the blast, and was inspecting it with an unimpressed scowl on his face, his green lined lip twitching into a smile the more he looked at it. “Dios mios, what a piece of junk! Look at this piece of shit!” He held it out for the other members to mock, who did so without taking their aim off of Junkrat, who had wobbily found his way back to his feet. The dills hadn’t packed nearly enough powder into their cheap, pitiful excuse of a bomb. It had been enough to knock him back, disorient him a little, but what they had thrown at him and Mei had been all bark and no bite, a crook of an explosive. _Amateurs!_ They had no right to be handling his own grenade launcher, which proved what bombs were _really_ capable of, they didn’t deserve to!

“Hand it over now before I-”

Junkrat stopped as he found himself staring at the smiling face he had painted himself on the canon of the gun, his blood boiling in rage under his skin.

“You want it back?” The man offered, lining up Junkrat’s grimy face in his sights. “You got it...Adios!”

Junkrat always told himself that no matter how his life ended, he would never  go down. Oh no, he was gonna go up! As in, blown up to a hundred smithereens, _ka-boom!,_ taking whoever had been victorious in taking him out as a thank you. He did not cower as the Los Muertos member pulled the trigger on his launcher, but braced his chest out defiantly, which began to heave with crazed laughter that spilled its way out from his cracked and yellow teeth. He was on the up and up, they were all going to be on the up and up!

“Ahahahaha-!”

“ _Get behind me!”_

There was a sudden burst of cold air on his face, not at all the fiery death he had been expecting just seconds ago,  that sent him stumbling back a step with a yelp, his exposed skin pimpling in exposure to the unforgiving chill.

Mei’s back was a protective and brave sight before him, one arm braced out to shield him behind her, the other raised to level her blaster at the group of  Los Muertos, who Junkrat could no longer see behind the massive ice wall she had conjured up to separate them. He could certainly hear them though, their frantic screams cut short by a _boom!_ As the grenade the one goon had launched bounced back at them from off the wall, followed immediately by a number of other cracking explosions that could only mean Junkrat’s frag launcher had detonated completely in the blast as well.

Then...then there was the heavy silence that only came in the presence of death.

Junkrat gaped in awe at Mei, standing with all the power of a mountain for someone so small, some loose hair fluttering around the curve of her cheek in the wind and flutter of snow her ice wall had brought with its construction, and found he could only breathe,

“Blimey Mei...that was _so cool!”_

She turned to stare at him the same time her wall ice wall came crumbling down with a shatter, her glasses glinting dangerously in the light.

“Was that... _another joke?”_

Her tone suggested less that she was asking him a question and more that she was daring him to say yes and suffer the consequences, and it caught Junkrat completely off guard. He felt that he was more in danger now with just her alone than against an entire splatoon of those skull-faced knockers, and he smartly took a step back.  She had just saved his life and was already angry at him again? And people said _he_ was the crazy one!

“A joke? Whaddaya mean another joke!” He spat back defensively, his metal arm squeaking as he threw his hands up in the air in exasperated surrender.  “Bloody hell, I was just givin’ ya a compliment! All I said was-”

Realization hit him as a snowflake tumbling through the air delicately kissed his nose, chilly and wet. “Oh…” He looked up at Mei, with her heavy parka and gloves and snow boots, and her ice gun, and a shit eating grin stretched its way across his face. “Oooohhhh-ahahahahaha! _Cool!_ ”

She puffed her cheeks out angrily as he doubled over, the fur of her coat nearly bristling with her annoyance. “You think you’re so funny, don’t you?” She crossed her arms snugly over her chest as he continued to laugh, the sound as unpleasant as screeching tires in her ears. “Well, you’re not! You’re just...obnoxious!”

Junkrat stood up straight from where he had doubled over his knees in his laughing fit, flicking a tear from his eye with a shaky gasp. “Ahaha-actually, I’ve been told I’m quite the comedian! Maybe you’d laugh too if ya weren’t such an ice queen yourself, Snowball.”

Winking at her, he offered, “Want me to steal a sense of humor for ya? I’ll even do it for cheap!”

Having had enough, Mei turned around muttering to herself in Chinese. Whatever she was saying, Junkrat was sure it wasn’t nice. He did understand her loud and clear though when she threw over her shoulder,  “You’re impossible! You...you’re the worst, Junkrat!”

“Yeah yeah, broken record there!” He yawned, rolling his golden eyes in sudden boredom. His heart was still pumping, he was still in one piece, he was done with this mission and he was certainly done with Mei’s constant judgement. “You’re such a good, nice sheila and I’m nuthin’ like ya so I’m such a stream’a piss! Got it! Now why don’t ya ramble on now, awrite?” He drawled as he stalked past her to over of what remained of the Los Muertos squad and more importantly, his frag launcher.  He had done his part of the mission, Mei and all the other smiling mugs on their team could finish up whatever else had to be done.

As he settled down on his haunches to begin sorting through the pieces of scrap that had burst around the plaza, metal and flesh alike, there came the sound of a soft whine in the breeze, and he glanced over his shoulder at Mei, who had been trying to contact the rest of the team over her transmitter.

She seemed to have heard the faint noise as well, and was staring at him in bewilderment. Placing her hand over the mouth of the radio, she asked him with a tone softened only by confusion, “Um..was that you?”

“Course it wasn’t me!” He barkedd, his singed brows furrowed at her incredulously. “You’re loonier than I am if ya thought that-”

The same keening noise came again, this time a little more pained ,a little more desperate in pitch. Though he knew it was impossible, Junkrat couldn’t help but sneak a peek at the bodies strewn about him, but as he already figured, there was no way they had survived all of the bombs detonating in his frag launcher at once in such a close range. Unless-

Arms pinwheeling, Junkrat jumped up and away from the bodies with a shout, his eyes darting frantically around the mess of limbs and gore. “Ah no, ah bloody hell no!”

Surprisingly, Mei was by his side at once, her blaster once again at the ready. “What is it? Is everything okay?” She aimed at the nearby alleyways and surrounding visible windows, alert for any more enemy reinforcements. “Are we under attack again?”

“Wot, are ya blind in them specs of your’s , Snowball?!” He cried, pushing her arm down so that she was aiming at the corpses on the ground. “Aim there! _There!”_

She shook his grimy and calloused hand from off her jacket, staring in dismay at the black smudges his fingers had left behind even in that brief of an encounter before fixing him with an irritated scowl.

“Junkrat, those men are…”Her eyes momentarily fluttered shut, and she inhaled deeply through her nose, calming herself before she finished delicately, her tone as faraway as the look in her eyes, “Junkrat, we... _dispatched_ them. I highly doubt any of them survived the blast…”

Junkrat was downright offended as he scoffed, “Ah course they didn’t survive! I made those bombs with me own hands ya know!” He tapped a metal finger against his forehead, _clunk!clunk!,_ “But just think for a tick! What if they… are _zombies_ now? Huh?”

There was a beat of silence as Mei stared at him, her eyes dark and her mouth set in a firm, straight line. “I’m not-” Mei turned from him abruptly, shaking her head so hard that her hair ornament swung wildly with the motion, “I am _not_ even going to offer a response to such a foolish idea…”

Which worked out for the best, since the whimper came once more, this time much quieter than it had been previously.

Now Junkrat’s hearing was far from the best, not at all surprising considering how closely he worked with explosives on a day to day basis, and there was no way he would have been able to trace the sound on his own. Mei didn’t have to know that, though.  With his hands on his bony hips, he surveyed the area as if he had a clear idea of where it had actually come from. “It uh, it came from ovah there ah’course!” he declared with the utmost confidence, pointing towards the fountain in the square with a black-polished nail.

Mei rolled her eyes and walked in the complete opposite direction of his outstretched arm, towards some bushes planted in front of a bakery with shuttered windows.

“You’re not gonna find anyfing over there! You’re goin’ the wrong way!” Junkrat called out to her retreating back, crossing his arms with a huff. She hadn’t even bothered to check his spot... _icy lil broad._

Suddenly he heard Mei cry out from the area she had gone to investigate, shrill and distressed, and as he watched her drop to her knees, Junkrat shocked himself with how quickly he scrambled over to her, a concussion mine already set to fly from his hand.

“Snowball!” He gasped when he reached her, looking around feverishly for whoever needed to be blown up now. His heart was really pumping now, angry and hot, an engine filled with liquid fire.  “I’ll avenge ya, don’t worry! I’ll-ah!”

The words died in his throat as Mei suddenly gripped his hand and looked up at him with tears rolling down her face, her lip trembling.

“Junkrat..!” She hiccuped, the emotion in her voice and face giving him pause. It must’ve been something _real_ bad for her to look at him with something besides contempt in her eyes like that, something _bloody awful_ to be willingly touching him, holding his _real_ hand no less! She didn’t even seem to realize she had done it...

He glanced past her face for a second, her swimming eyes and running snotty nose, towards a mess on the ground in front of her, and he understood at once.

Amongst the green of the  shrubbery was the slick red of blood, pooling from the source of the whimpering noise, a little black and white pup no more than a year old, not even grown into its floppy ears yet. The poor stray must have been hiding there during the fight, and got caught up in the crossfire....Its trembling body was badly battered all over, but the most pressing wound, the main source of all the blood, and the one Junkrat could not tear his gaze from, was the stump where the pup’s leg had once been. The limp, shredded tissue was an all too familiar sight to the Junker, and he closed his eyes against the sudden tide of nausea churning in his guts.

Only...only a _bomb_ could do damage like that....

A dull ache began in what remained of his knee, which soon turned to a crippling pain. His skin, his muscles, the very tissues holding him together began to burn as if to singe him away internally, and his lungs felt like they were suffocating against his ribs, prisoners desperate to escape their cage. Memories surfaced with the pain, threatened to pull him away under their suffocating tide, drowning him in another place, another time… but then Mei’s voice reached him from a hundred miles away, anchoring him back to the present.

“Junkrat..? Junkrat! We have to save it! _Help me!”_

By the time he reopened his eyes he was already kneeling by the dog’s side, resolute to do everything he could. In fact, he was almost damn near feverish to get started. Before he got to the nitty gritty of it, though, he took a moment to place his hand gingerly against the pup’s face, and said solemn as a swear,

“Don’t worry lil fella, we got cha.” He met Mei’s watery stare with a fiery one of his own, determination burning in his eyes.  “ _We got cha.”_

The most immediate threat to the pup’s life was his severed leg, and stopping the blood would not be an easy task to accomplish, or even watch for that matter. “Mei,” and using her real name felt so alien on his tongue, nearly as weird as it was giving her instruction, but he swallowed it all down with a sputtering cough and continued, “I need ya to hold the lil fella down while I take care’ah his leg. He’s gonna squirm, ‘n he’s gonna cry, but no matter wot, hold on tight, yeah? I’ll try to do it in a tick…”

There was no hesitation in her movements as she nodded in understanding. She placed one hand securely against the dog’s shoulder, and the other to simply stroke it’s head in comfort, her lips barely moving to breathe encouraging words to the pup.

“It’s okay, shh...We’re here, it’s okay, it’s gonna be okay.”

She looked so sweet caring for the pup like that...but most of all, she looked brave. She looked ready for what he was about to do, and for that Junkrat was grateful. Another Junker from his far past had once quipped at him, “Slippery hands and rubbery nerves a good battlefield amputation does not make!”

It hadn’t made much sense to him until he experienced it for himself firsthand...then leg.

Those words in mind, Junkrat stuck true to his word and made quick work of amputating what little remained of the dog’s leg and wrapping the stump up nice and tight. In the adrenaline high, he was almost jealous of the handiwork he performed, honestly. If only his own amputations had gone so neatly, so quickly.

Still, quick was far from easy. The stench was one thing; the dirty coin smell of blood, of flesh being burnt shut and fur singeing away...but the noise was worse. Dogs barked and yapped, they howled and whimpered and whined, but to hear a dog _scream..._ in such agony and pain, even knowing he had done it to save its life, Junkrat would’ve been content to blow himself up in the guilt of causing it so much pain. This just wasn’t his type of violence, never had been.

Omnics? They deserved pain, no- _death_ , more than anybody. So did most folks too, with their lying mouths and empty heads and their fancy sharp-cut suits. But _dogs?_ Those lil scamps with their wagging tails and stupid, always pleased to see ya faces? Even accidentally stepping on one of their paws would be going too far for him.

Mei seemed to share this same sentiment as well if the fat tears rolling down her face said anything about it. Junkrat had to give her credit, though, even all weepy with pity she didn’t let her feelings get in the way of keeping the lil fella alive. She held the pup down nice and tight throughout the entire amputation, keeping it from losing any more of its leg than it needed to, and encouraged it with soothing words while he wrapped the wound up tight with the bandages from his own leg. Not the cleanest option, he knew, but bollocks,  it was the only option they had.

When he finally leaned back from the makeshift operation, sweaty faced and hands glistening with blood, he offered Mei an uncertain shrug, scratching at his cheek and unwittingly smearing red into the usual black grime of his face. “Uhh, I did wot I could for ‘em, but…”

It seemed as if the damage had already been done. The pup was no longer bleeding profusely from what he could see, but that was the problem exact. How banged up were its insides right now? Its lungs, its ticker, all the other important slimy red bits he didn’t know the names of that kept its engine revving? Junkrat noticed its breathing had gone shallow too, the rise of the pup’s chest slow and empty like a deflating balloon at a crashed birthday party...

Mei was watching it too, her expression unreadable from behind her glasses. Her hands were still planted firmly on the dog’s broken body, but there was a tremble in her gloves now that hadn’t been there before. Junkrat knew she was a scientist, that she had a real big brain working under that pretty face of her’s, so surely if he already knew the dog wasn’t gonna pull through, she could sense it too-

But then suddenly she was she was scooting closer to the pup, nestling its head gently into her lap with  a _shhh_. The dog should have reacted with a least a whimper or a whine to being moved with all its other injuries, but its breathing only rattled for a tick before settling back down to a quiet hush. “I got you, I got you…” Mei cooed, stroking its head with a near maternal tenderness.

Why was she playing dumb like this?

Junkrat could barely stand to watch, and turned his head away with a _tsk_. “Look, Snowball...I get’cha want to save the lil fella, but the poor thing’s tickets been punched. We-” He looked at the pup’s new stump with a grimace and corrected himself, “Oi did what I could-”

“ _No!”_

He was so startled by the sudden heat in her voice that he nearly toppled over, and when he looked up into her face he found a familiar fire raging in her eyes, powerful and unrelenting.

“We can’t give up now!” She insisted, her voice unwavering in its determination. The tears had stopped flowing and she steadied her chin high, and Junkrat suddenly felt like he was somehow looking up at her despite his advantage in height. The baffling sensation only grew when Mei’s gaze softened as she looked back down at the puppy and murmured, _“It can’t give up now…”_

It took Junkrat a minute to cough up his words in response, a rarity for a motormouth such as himself. They just felt weird coming up, like something in his chest had swelled and stuck them there inside for a minute, like a traffic jam he couldn’t just blow his way up through. _Bloody weird._

“Well, that’s all fair ‘n nice now, ainnit? But...” He finally managed, shaking his head and dispelling the smoke wafting from his singed hair. He looked at Mei expectantly, and rolled his wrist for her to go on. “Wot’s your plan? Ya  just gon pull a miracle outta that fluffy parka of yer’s?”

To his surprise, she actually nodded in agreement to his sarcastic suggestion. “I’m going to try. What I’m about to do...I have no idea if it will work or not. I’ve never attempted this before, but it’s our only chance.” She adjusted her glasses firmly on her nose, and on a complete and utter roll of bewildering him, smiled just a tiny bit in his direction.

“You did you part, Junkrat.” She acknowledged, her hand petting the hip of the dog’s bandaged leg. “Now it’s time to do mine.”

Before he could respond, she took a deep breath and with the dog nestled closely to her body, disappeared into her ice block in a _whoosh!_ Of cold air and snow.

Screaming, Junkrat flinched back from the harsh chill on his skin, immediately wrapping himself up tight in a hug to ward off the cold.

“Y-ya coulda at least warned me f-first, Snowball!” He snapped at the block of ice, teeth chattering as he used  his metal fist to give it a knock as angry as he felt. “That’s, erm-” He paused to quickly count on his fingers, “ _Two_ times today now you’ve blasted me with yer bloody cold! Gonna give ya a gobful when ya get outta there!”

But then through the ice he glimpsed the pup’s form in her lap, still as can be, and like a dynamite fuse in a gust of wind, his anger subsided and he found himself reaching towards the ice to knock a little more gently.

“Oi,” He gruffed, jabbing his finger in the pup’s direction though it couldn’t see him. “Ya keep fightin’ on in there, capiche? Don’t be a puss when yer a dog! Yer a lil scrapper, I can tell, so just keep at it, yeah? I made it through losin’ me own leg , ‘n I know ya can do it too. It ain’t so bad, ya learn ta get around...” He glanced up at Mei’s face, serene as a sculpture, and if he was being honest, just as nice looking too (if he actually cared about all that art nonsense, anyways), and added with a huff, hooking a thumb in her direction, “‘N ya listen to Mei too! No givin’ up or whatevah. You can do it... lil fella.”

Having said everything he wanted to say, Junkrat leaned back with a grunt. The plaza was silent now save for the papery hush of confetti blowing across the ground  and the echo of fighting occurring elsewhere in Dorado. Junkrat could barely make out the sharp pop of gunfire, the rolling thunder of bombs, the sounds of war in the distance.

Usually these noises brought him great delight, but now, sitting here by himself with his arms folded tight while he waited for Mei to reemerge with the pup, who he hoped would make it out okay, who he expected would most likely keel over…

Muttering under his breath, Junkrat clapped his hands over his ears to block out the noise and forced himself to do the one thing he hated to do the most.

He waited.


	2. It's A Start

It didn’t really surprise Mei how curious people were about the cryostasis process. It was a rather odd trick, wasn’t it? How with a deep breath and the push of a button, she could suspend herself in ice a bloody and bruised and broken mess, and just a short while later, emerge as if her body had never even known the sting of a scratch. The mere sight of it was enough to amaze people and send them into a frenzy of questions, ones that she always met with all the patience and shared enthusiasm of a scientist.

“Does it hurt?” was a popular one, usually retracted sheepishly almost immediately once they realized the point was to take  _ away  _ the hurt, but Mei never judged those who asked her this, instead thanking them warmly for worrying about her well-being. It was a thoughtful question she always took with a smile.

“How does it work?” was asked far less frequently, and for this Mei was grateful. The question was almost like the ocean tide pulling at her ankles on the shore, and as she explained in near excruciating detail the exact chemical reactions necessary for the slush to harden into ice on contact, the delicate biological processes that occurred in her body to heal it in such a short time frame...Her excitement would carry her so far away in its riptide that by the time she came back to the conversation itself, the eyes of whoever had been unfortunate enough to ask would be as dim as lighthouse abandoned long ago, and the embarrassment, the sense of alienation the sight gave her, would leave Mei feeling as if she truly had drifted out alone into a dark, dark sea.

The question that seemed to be on everyone’s mind, though, the one Mei could easily tally as the most frequently asked was, “What does it feel like?”

It was also the question she struggled to answer the most. No one was ever satisfied with the most honest answer she had, which was in all honesty, “Nothing, really!” 

So she had examined the experience of cryostasis as a scientist first and foremost, and then after brushing up on some poetry and practicing her speech to her lil Snowbot over and over again, she found a more... _ dramatic  _ answer that others really seemed to enjoy.

The closest thing Mei could relate waking from cryostasis from was being born. She herself could not recall what her own birth felt like, of course, but she imagined the sensations were not so different from  one another. 

Like the safety of the womb, it began with an absolute stillness of both mind and body, a silence so deep there was comfort to be found in the nothingness there. No sensation, no thought, not even peace would be the right way to describe it. The best Mei could manage when describing it to others when they inquired was with a near sheepish shrug as she offered, “ _ pure absence.” _

If there was even a moment between pressing the button on her pack to engage the cryostasis and the moment the cold began slowing down her lungs, her brain, each and every nerve in her body to heal her aches and pains, Mei could never recall it, the same way no one truly remembers the exact moment they fall asleep.  It was so simple, so easy just to slip into that quiet and stay there…

Waking up was a different experience entirely. Though it lacked the screaming and blood and foul soup of bodily fluids that came with being ripped from the womb, it was none the less unpleasant, and proved to be a disorientating experience for Mei no matter how many times she went through it.

Wretched from that wonderful nothing and tossed back into the loud noise, too bright rush of everything (and on the battlefield no less!), she’d emerge from her ice block with a gasp in her throat and a wobble in her step, chunks of ice popping under her boots like glass as she found her legs again, and before her glasses even had time to defog in front of her eyes, she’d be back in the fight born completely anew from her previous injuries.

As helpful, and at times even as  _ vital _ to her survival as it was, cryostasis was a jarring experience and often left Mei struggling back to adjust back into the present.

That was not the case this time, not with just her own life on the line.

She awoke with her mind as clear and as sharp as the ice crumbling around her, a single thought warding off the usual fog that came with cryosleep.

_ ‘The dog, is it-? Did it-?’ _

Before she could even turn her head to look for herself there was a tire screech of a voice in her ear, echoing the same exact question only volumes louder.

“Well!? Diddit work or not, Snowball?! Is the lil guy still kickin’ or wot?!”

Junkrat’s presence was usually too much for Mei to bare even without the stress of being out on a mission, let alone in a situation as dire as this. Yet here he was all stench and no volume control, his robot arm tight on her arm as he leaned over her shoulder to check on the pup for himself.  _ Oh god, when was the last time he bathed?! _

Head pounding with both sensory overload and irritation, Mei whirled on him and hissed, “Junkrat-”

And what she had meant to snap was “Junkrat, you’re not helping at all!” but then she caught sight of his face and faltered, her tongue suddenly heavy with words she couldn’t spit out. He wasn’t wearing his usual manic smile that made Mei feel like bugs were skittering over her arms, but a strained grimace that left creases in the soot on his face. His eyes were bulging even more than usual with worry, his attention not on her reaction per usual when he was bothering her, but focused solely on the poor creature in her lap, his eyes darting all over its battered and broken form. She followed his gaze to the bundle of black and white and red nestled there and finished more softly, “I...I don’t know…”

An ache in her heart told her that she did, though. The poor thing was completely still, no movement, not even a whimper or a twitch to show that it was in pain, that it was feeling anything at all good or bad...and she felt her eyes began to burn at the sight. Just as it had been in the Arctic, cryosleep hadn’t been enough,  _ she herself   _ had not done enough...and once again Mei found herself the only one waking up from cryostasis alive.

Tears trembled on the thick of her lashes like dew, hot and heavy, and just as she closed her eyes to let them fall, Junkrat was suddenly jostling her shoulder as he danced foot to peg, shouting to her as if they miles away though they were only cheek to cheek,

“Look, look, look!  _ Lookit there, Mei!” _

Her eyes traveled down the length of his arm, still burnt and bleeding from the ambush he had taken the full brunt of, to the gnawed shreds of his black painted nail and though she could barely dare to believe it...to the gentle rise and fall of the pup’s back.

“O-oh?” She breathed, raising her gloved hand from it with shock, the feeling only amplified when the dog carefully turned its head to look back at her, it’s eyes open and brown and  _ oh thank goodness, alive!  _ And before she could even stop herself, think to even stop herself, she hurriedly asked the pup, “Are you okay, friend?!” her voice pitched high in concern and still stretched taut with tears. 

By her side, Junkrat echoed, “Yeah, ya awrite lil fella? Ya good?”

Its head dipping like it was loose on its neck, so heavy with exhaustion, the puppy blinked at them once slowly, as if trying to decide for itself how it felt, then with a sigh pulled from deep inside its lungs, dropped its head back into her lap and went still once more.

There was a terrifying moment where she thought that might have been it, and it was obvious Junkrat felt the same by the way his grip suddenly became vice like on her arm, enough for her to feel each metal plated finger through her parka even, and the Junker hissed through grit teeth, 

“Oi Mei-izzit-”

But then its chest began a steady rhythm of rising and falling, and even one of its splotched ears gave a twitch when Junkrat let out a sigh of relief that was more scream than exhale.

“Woo! Nah that was a close one! The lil guy really had me goin’ for a tick there!  _ Ya lil ripper!  _  Ahahahaha!” He stumbled away clutching at his sides, and as he doubled over himself in laughter, the sound more frantic with relief than mirthful to Mei’s ears, she too let herself exhale the breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding, her palm  pressed firm against her thrumming heart.

“Thank goodness…!” she praised, tilting her head up to the sky and simply allowing herself to smile for a moment, appreciate the feel of the pup’s  breathing under her gloves, the gentle  _ tha-thump  _ of its beating heart. “ _ Thank you!” _

A digital chirping suddenly came from deep within her coat, and the climatologist gave a slight jump at the unexpected interruption, one she regretted immediately as the pup whined in response.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” She squeaked, fumbling with one hand to retrieve her transmitter and the other to stroke the pup in apology.

“Hands full there? You take the call, ‘n I’ll take our new mate here!  _ Ha!” _

His laughing fit seemingly out of his system now,  Junkrat swooped in to snatch the pup into his arms in a whoosh of sweaty and smoky odor, cradling it in the softness of his real arm and using his metal one to wave at Mei sweetly. The puppy’s lack of reaction to such abrupt movement worried her, not even so much of a yelp as the Junker spun it away from her, cooing in a tone that made her think more of rotting cavities than actual sweetness as he rocked it in his arms.

“G’daaaay there, lil mate! Name’s Junkrat, ‘n I saved yer life! Uhh, not yer leg tho, sorry...But ya life’s good enough, yeah? Yer welcome!”

Mei watched the scene with a worried glower, her transmitter still beeping furiously in her hand as she debated what to do. She wanted more than anything to rescue the puppy from Junkrat’s clutches, surely he would drop it, or cause it further distress, or…

As Junkrat bowed his head to bump the pup’s nose with his own, his teeth bared in a joyous grin, Mei decided she could trust him with it for at least  _ one moment  _ to answer the call. Just in case, though…

“Junkrat?” She called, pulling her hand from answering the transmitter to rest against her holstered endothermic blaster. She was going to make sure he got the message loud and clear if he did anything to that poor dog, but…

He didn’t even bother to turn around from where he was swaying with the pup, opting instead to dismiss her with an annoyed wave of his hand and a stomp of his peg leg, kicking up dust on the spot.

“Bloody hell, just answer the damn thing, will ya?! Beep, beep, beep- _ aaahhhhhgg! _ It’s keepin’ our lil mate awake ‘n drivin’ me crazy!” His shoulders trembling with laughter, he only turned enough to train one rolling eye on her, “Well, more so than usual. Ahahaha!”

Daggers in her eyes and blood hot in her face, Mei stared at his shaking back as if she could make him disappear into thin air, but when he remained as solid as ever in her sight, she let out a frustrated huff and finally accepted the call.

“Mei here,” She answered with a cold snap she regretted at once, rushing to try her greeting again before the other line could even reply, “ _ Sorry, sorry!  _ Um, this is Mei, Dr. Zhou, speaking... _ Sorry. _ ”

“Mei! Where are you? We are all worried sick about you, you’re never late to rendezvous like this! Are you injured? Do you require medical assistance somewhere?”

Dr.Ziegler’s voice, which Mei found to be pleasant to hear even on quiet days around the base, suddenly never sounded sweeter than it did right now over the transmitter, and the climatologist understood at once why the winged-doctor was referred to as Mercy on the battlefield.

She and the pup were saved!

“Angela!” Mei cried gratefully, jumping up in her excitement and bouncing on her feet. Junkrat cocked a bushy, burnt brow at her outburst, the puppy snuggled close to his bare chest. 

“Angela? Whozzat now?” He inquired, nosy as a rodent as he hobbled over closer to eavesdrop.  Mei turned her back to his peering eyes and quirked lip, walking in circles to evade him as he tried to bend his ear closer to the conversation. “Oi Angela!” He screeched at the transmitter, Mei swatting him all the while to silence him, “Who the bloody hell are ya?!”

Cringing, Mei found herself repeating once more, “Sorry, sorry, Angela-”

The doctor didn’t seem to mind the interruption at all, quite the opposite in fact as she cried out in relief, “Oh, thank goodness! Mr.Fawkes is with you as well? We could not reach him either and were quite worried something unfortunate might have happened! So you two are safe together, I take it?”

Junkrat snapped his fingers together in realization as Mercy’s message crackled out over the speaker,  _ bingo!  _ “The doc is the only one who calls me Mr. Fawkes….” Snickering, he screwed his head towards the pup in his arms and asked with a roll of his eyes, “Can ya believe it, mate?  _ Mister Fawkes?  _ Ahahahaha!” 

_ ‘Angela is a literal angel to be concerned about this guy…’  _ Mei thought with a grimace watching the sight, but answered with an even tone back, “Yes, Angela. Junkrat and I are alright as of now. We were ambushed by enemy forces but were able to fend them off. We’re fine, but…”

Her eyes traveled to the dog in Junkrat’s arms, its eyes shut tight and fur still matted with blood, the bandage on its stump beginning to blotch dark and red...and when she glanced back up at Junkrat’s face, it was obvious he knew his distractions were just that alone, and not helping the dog’s pain whatsoever. He was still smiling, but...it was beginning to unfurl at the edges like paper held to a flame, the shine in his eyes flickering just as dim. Catching her stare, he gawked at her in disbelief and gave an impatient roll of his wrist,  _ go on, go on! _

“Whaddaya gawkin’ at me good looks for?! Tell the doc to get here  _ now!”  _ And then, his voice dropping to a hiss like he couldn’t stand to admit out loud there was something he was struggling with, “I don’t know how much longer I can keep our lil mate awake and kickin’, capice?”  

_ Awake and-oh! _

Junkrat hadn’t been so erratic in handling the dog to cause it further pain, but to keep it from slipping away from its injuries...There was no way of telling what the cryostasis had managed to heal or not, Mei herself was unsure how its effects differed from human to animal (something she’d be researching for sure once she had a day in the lab!) but it seemed Junkrat was not taking any chances in finding out. 

Ignoring the surreal sensation that came with being in agreement with Junkrat of all people, Mei gave a resolute nod of her head and turned her attention back to the transmitter.

Angela sounded nearly desperate with worry on the other line. “But what? Mei, is everything okay? You’re not responding...Mei?!”

“I’m still here, Angela, but we’re in need of  _ immediate  _ medical assistance! We have a... _ civilian  _ who was caught in the crossfire and is severely wounded! Requesting immediate backup!”

As if Mei hadn’t made her point clearly enough, Junkrat made sure to bark loud enough for the medic to hear, “Get them wings flappin’, doc! Make it snappy!” 

There was no hesitation from Dr. Ziegler whatsoever as she responded, already in the no-nonsense state of mind of a doctor prepared to save lives, “I’m on my way.”

 

“Now Mei, when you said you had a wounded civilian on your hands, I was not expecting-”

“I know, Angela. I’m sorry,  _ sorry... _ but I knew if anyone could help it would be you.”

“Wot? Ya too  _ good  _ to save a dog, doc? Izzat it?”

Mercy’s face crinkled with laughter in the pale yellow glow of her staff as she passed it slowly over the puppy’s broken body, the motion steady and sure in the way only a doctor’s movements could be. The silences in between the trio’s conversation were filled with the steady beeps and hums of the Gibraltar base infirmary's other medical equipment, monitoring the dog’s vitals as Mercy worked her scientific magic. So far, all was going well and only seemed to be getting better as the dog bathed in the golden light, the process much smoother now without the turbulence of the jet ride back to base. 

Even in face of his accusatory tone, Mercy graced Junkrat with an honest smile in response. “Oh no, Mr. Fawkes, that’s not it at all! It’s just been so long since an animal’s been entrusted in my care. It was quite the surprise, you see.”

Junkrat’s nose wrinkled in confusion at her statement, making him look as rodent like as his namesake. “Whaddaya mean? Don’t ya heal that gorilla in the specs- _ yow!” _

Mei kept her fist held high from where she slugged him in the arm, ready to do so again at a moment’s notice. “Winston,” she declared in fierce defense of one of her closest friends and colleagues, “Is a  _ scientist.  _ Not an animal…” and glaring at him from over her glasses, hissed, “ _ Like you.” _

“Job me again Snowball ‘n I’ll show ya just how much of an animal I really am! Go on, I dare ya!” Junkrat growled from the back of his throat not unlike an actual dog, even letting out a sharp bark when Mei opened her mouth to retort, and again when she tried yelling over him.

“Junkrat-”

“Rrrrarf!”

“You-”

“ _ Wooof! Grrr-” _

Mercy watched the exchange with draining patience, the two causing a racket that was undoubtedly disturbing her patient and causing it distress. It’s true, the medic had been surprised to find not a human, or even an omnic in need of her care when she and the rest of the team had arrived at Mei and Junkrat’s coordinates in Dorado, and it was true it had been a long while since her staff had last been used to save the life of a mere animal, but the absurdity of the situation did not change one simple thing for the doctor, the most important factor of all as far as Angela was concerned-

There was a life was in need of help only she could provide. 

This was not a bold statement meant to undermine her fellow medics in Overwatch, not at all. She often found herself in awe of their unique capabilities, how they all achieved the same goal of saving lives by such different means. Never in her greatest imagination would Angela have ever guessed that music could soothe the body, or that harmony itself could be harnessed into a form of medicine. And to ever suspect that Ana was still alive and had developed a  healing supplement of her own? Not even in her craziest dreams…

It was just her nano-healing, working on a such a delicate cellular level that had taken years of hard work and questionable ethics for her to perfect, was the only one that’d have any effect on a lifeform that wasn’t human or robotic. And while it was definitely working, the pup’s wounds closing and disappearing under her careful blue gaze and steady hands, its chest swelling with breaths that were gradually becoming deeper and more relaxed with each minute under her care, it would be working much better without the added stress of-

“You two!  _ Enough! _ ” Mercy snapped, her tone no longer that of a soft and patient caregiver but a fierce protector.

Mei and Junkrat, who had been nearly nose to nose as they spat and jeered at the other, jumped at the sudden fire in her voice and pulled back at once. 

Her cheeks round and red as apples in embarrassment, Mei was flustered enough to not even realize she was no longer speaking English as she spluttered out apology after apology in Chinese, her head bowed to her chest in regret.

Junkrat merely rolled his eyes at her outburst, and using his pinky nail to pick and prod in between his gold tooth, deadpanned as he flicked whatever he found from his gums toward’s Mei’s feet, “She started it.”

Inhaling deeply through her nose, Angela regarded the two like she was about to kick them out of the infirmary when...like the sun peeking through storm clouds, she smiled just a little bit.

“Dr. Zhou, Mr. Fawkes…” she chided much more softly this time, shaking her head with a  _ tsk.  _ “Here you are, bickering like children, when you’ve proved yourselves such a successful team!”

“P-pardon?” Mei choked, her head snapping up to look from Angela, to Junkrat, and then back to the doctor again. Blinking owlishly from behind her glasses, her tone bewildered, the climatologist could only ask, “What did you say?”

As he did most things in life, Junkrat chose to respond with laughter, as loud and unpleasant as a car crash. “Ahahahaha! Nah that’s a laugh! Me ‘n Snowball here a  _ team?”  _ He crossed his arms with such a violent, disbelieving snort, the wet whoosh of snot lodging into his throat echoed throughout the room. “The only mate I’m on a team on is with Roadie...Who bloody abandoned me all on me own, the prick!”

With all the patience of a saint, the doctor explained to Junkrat slowly, and not even for the first time since they arrived back on base, “Mr. Fawkes, it is as I said before. Mr. Rutledge was  _ not  _ assigned to sweep with you. He was defending the payload with myself, Ms. Song and Mr. Shimada, remember? He was there when we got back to the jet, yes? He was even the one to patch you up while I began work on your little friend here.”

The Junker looked down as his bandaged arm and shoulder, the handiwork surprisingly delicate and clean considering the large hands responsible were anything but, and muttered almost sulkily under his breath, “Defendin’ the payload when he’s  _ my bloody bodyguard  _ ‘n should be defendin’  _ me!  _ Absolute piss…”

Rolling her eyes in response to his childish response, Mei interjected over Junkrat’s grumbling, “Angela, I’m sorry, but I am not, and will  _ never  _ be a team with someone,” she stopped only to correct herself, “with a  _ bully  _ like Junkrat.” 

To the pair’s surprise, Mercy only shrugged her shoulders at their mutual rejection of her claim, an almost sly smile on her angelic face. “Well, if you don’t want to take my word for it…” With a click she retracted her staff closed, and swept it over the examination table before her to encourage the two of them to look at what lay there. “How about your new friend’s, instead?”

So engrossed with their bickering, Mei and Junkrat had failed to notice that under the glow of Mercy’s staff, the pup that had barely been able to manage a whimper of pain on the flight back to base was now sitting up...its eyes bright and fluffy tail wagging in gratitude.

“Puppy!”

“Lil mate!”

They exclaimed in unison, both of them rushing forward with hands outstretched, a momentary truce called for this one small moment of celebration. The dog’s entire body trembled excitedly under the sudden shower of affection it received, its tongue lolling at Mei as she softly pet its back, leaning into Junkrat’s hand as he scratched under its chin.

“You’re so brave! I knew you could do it!” Mei cheered, her snowbot beeping in enthusiastic agreement from where it perched on her back. At the digital chirping, the pup let out an excited yip, and to the trio’s surprise, tottered to its remaining three legs with only some difficulty. 

Thoroughly impressed, Junkrat regarded the sight with a low whistle, his fists planted firmly on his hips with pride. “Y’see that? Now  _ that’s  _ a true scrapper! Lost a limb in the mornin’, back on his feet by noon! Lil fella has the soul of a Junker, ya can just tell!” He lunged towards the pup with a happy shout to wrap it a hug, mumbling into its blood and dirt caked fur, “Ahahaha!  _ Bonzer mate!” _

Angela watched the happy celebration unfold with warm eyes and a smug smile. “Do you see what I mean now, Mei? Mr. Fawkes?”

Mei looked up from scratching behind the pup’s ears to blink uncertainly at the doctor, adjusting her glasses almost shyly. “Oh? You mean about being a team?”

“Oi, not this rubbish again…” Junkrat muttered, slowly dragging his hand from the pup’s back like it took every ounce of effort he had just to do so.  

Their attention now on her, Mercy continued with her voice swelling with encouragement, “My efforts alone would not have saved this poor creature’s life, this I can ensure you. It would have succumbed to its injuries long before we even made contact... But,” she offered her own dainty hand to the dog, who bumped her hand over its head for a quick yet mandatory pet. Giggling behind her free hand, she obliged before continuing on. “By combining your efforts and working together as a team,  _ cooperating,” _ she stressed, “You two were able to save its life!  _ Well done!” _

Like trying to stare directly at the bright spring sun, Angela’s combined praise and radiant smile were too much for either Mei or Junkrat to handle then, and suddenly feeling quite bashful, the two tried to look anywhere else besides at the doctor, first at the floor, and then with only some hesitation, at each other.

Surprisingly enough, Junkrat said nothing at all to Mei, his cracked and yellow teeth too busy gnawing at his bottom lip to speak. His singed eyebrows hung heavy and low over his eyes,  uncharacteristically thoughtful as he stared at the scientist.

Mei wrung her hands nervously before her, unable to do anything but fidget under his intense stare. What was he thinking, looking at her like that? Probably something mean, probably something nasty-

She let out a yelp as he suddenly thrust his hand towards her, absolutely startled. The puppy responded to the commotion with a quick bark of its own, but Mercy quickly shushed with soothing coo’s, thrilled at the sudden development she was witnessing. 

Mei regarded the Junker’s outstretched hand dubiously, her eyes cold and calculating behind her glasses. 

Noticing her hesitation, Junkrat wiggled his fingers in her direction, keeping his palm out and open. “Oi.”

“W-what?”

“Ya did a bang up job out there is all. Good onya, Mei.”

Junkrat watched as her brown eyes stared at his hand in careful contemplation, then flickered over to the pup who had been lulled into a doze by Mercy’s soothing hands. This was a peaceful sleep now, no bombs or bloodshed to be found in its dreams. Her lips quirked into a small smile, one that remained as her eyes finally found his face. 

“You too, Junkrat.” She finally clasped his hand back, her grip sincere and tight even through her thick glove. Then, her lips pursed in thought, she repeated back slowly, the phrase awkward and unfamiliar on her tongue, “Good...good onya?”

 

It was only after the had retracted their hands that Mercy leaned in between the two and suggested they leave the dog to rest for the evening. 

“I have a few vital monitors on our new friend, so I’ll know at once if anything changes.” She assured the pair to ease the stricken looks on their faces, neither one wanting to leave the pup alone after all it had been through, after all  _ they  _ had been through together that day. “You can come visit first thing in the morning, at dawn even. Alright?”

Mei had consented almost immediately, not wanting to give Angela any trouble after all of her hard work, but Junkrat, of course, did not go quietly.

“Go ‘head, lock the door Doc! Won’t make a bloody difference, there ain’t a lock I can’t pick! ‘N by pick, I mean blow it up ah’course! Ahahahaha-ha?”

So late in the night, the trio had expected to leave the infirmary alone, but waiting right outside the doors was a much different sight.

The entire base of Gibraltar, most if not  _ all  _ the heroes of Overwatch, waiting for them with bated breath and eager eyes. Some seemed almost sheepish to be caught standing there, others a little annoyed to have been kept waiting for so long, and a special few were just absolutely enthralled, bouncing on their feet and jostling one another to catch a peek of the base’s newest resident.

Of course it was Lena who zipped up to the three first, too impatient in her excitement to give anyone else the chance to ask what they had all been wondering since news of the rescue first broke.

“So!” She chirped happily, gazing from Mei to Junkrat to Mercy with a perky grin. “When can we pet the dog?”


	3. Welcome Wagon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If the pup's arrival taught Mei and Junkrat anything, it was that they were wrong about many things. About each other, about what they were capable of...
> 
> That they thought they'd be keeping the little bundle of fluff all to themselves.

True to his word, Junkrat had been the first of the pup’s visitors before dawn had broken on the first night, Roadhog a very close second himself as he shambled in behind his boss, his massive arms loaded with gifts.

“Yeah yeah, that’s it Roadie! Distract ‘em with those prezzies while I get his leg fixed up, aw’rite?” The smaller Junker commanded as he plopped himself at the pup’s bedside, the clatter of the metal and tools being tossed to the floor waking up the dog from its peaceful slumber with a yip and a spasm of its remaining limbs.

Its ears shot up straight, then flat back in terror as its eyes darted between Junkrat’s stretched grin to the sharp edges of Roadhog’s swine mask, its yip pitching into an racket of frightened whining, but then Junkrat leaned forward to scratch under its chin and flick on the light.

“Easy, easy there lil fella! It’s only yer good mates Rat and Hog! Remember? We only saved yer life today, no big deal or anyfing!” Junkrat chided as he ruffled the puppy’s fur playfully, who now recognizing the familiar feel of Junkrat’s metal hand and his strong stench, began to wag its tail in happy greeting. 

Roadhog, shifting his armful of presents from one arm to the other, quickly leaned in to do the same, his ringed fingers wiggling in gleeful anticipation, but at the sight of his large hand closing in on it, the dog yipped once more and darted away to the opposite side of the bed, its tail tucked tight behind it in its retreat. It wouldn’t even look at him…

Such a terrible ache the outright rejection caused his heart, the bodyguard couldn’t even find the strength to reel his arm back to his side, his outstretched hand touching only empty air where he wished there was soft fur instead.

Junkrat rolled his eyes at the scene, impatient to get started on the work at hand... well, foot. Slapping Roadhog’s arm out of the way, he lurched forward and dragged the dog into his arms, its small body trembling as it found itself closer to masked giant once more.

Junkrat used one hand to hold it steady and the other to pet in reassuringly as he looked over its new stump, muttering in almost jealous belief how clean of a job he had done, at how better it looked just hours later with the help of Doc’s magic wand compared to his after years of taking care of it on his own. It looked less as if the dog had actually endured the trauma it had experienced in losing its leg and more as if it simply been born without one, a slight pucker of exposed skin at the joint the only indicator something had been lost at all.

Junkrat’s bushy brows creased low and jealous over his eyes, which he turned to give the dog a poisonous glare, but as soon as his eyes met the brown shine of the pup’s, the venom gave way to immediate sweetness and he merely laughed and ruffled the dog’s ears once more. “Lucky lil bastard! Ahahahaha!”

Taking the pup’s face between his two hands to drum his fingers gently against its head, Junkrat leaned in to whisper to it as if he was sharing an unbelievable secret, “Oi, the Doc might’a made ya better, but I’m gonna make ya the  _ best.  _ A true blue Junker! _ ” _

With that promise, he released its soft face with affectionate pats to both cheeks before snapping his fingers to get Roadhog’s attention, the sound more akin to a gunshot than a snap with his metal armor. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon Hog! Screw yer head on right ‘n let's get to it already!” 

Catching the dejected slump in his bodyguard’s shoulders, Junkrat groaned and prodded him in gut with his elbow, his joint sinking into the thick rolls of fat like a pillow. His voice was almost soft, nearly even kind, as he coaxed, “Don’t look so glum, mate. Give this lil scrapper the prezzies ya brought ‘n I’m sure it’ll come right round! It only see’s yer ugly mug right now, not yer big shiny heart!”

Roadhog snorted from deep inside his mask, and Junkrat hooted with laughter as the larger man  slapped him outside his burning head with a restrained  _ twack!  _ As to not completely take his head off.

He looked down once more at the pup, who began to cower under his gaze, and for a criminal of such violence, such power, Roadhog was surprisingly gentle as he bent down and showered the dog in the gifts he had brought just for it…

The pup found itself caught in a storm of soft fleece and high pitched squeaks as pachimaris bounced over its body and all over the bed, at least an entire claw machine’s worth, but not a single one won fair. 

Overwhelmed, the dog’s eyes ticked from the smiling onion faces, to the curly green tentacles, and up to the Junkers, then back and all over again, dancing from paw to paw in a nervous fit of excitement. Pink tongue lolling, it began to hassle and pant before it tensed its body then,  _ squeak!  _ tumbled clumsily into the pile of pachimaris and began to bite and chew to its heart's content.

The Junkers were absolutely spellbound as they watched the heartwarming scene unfold before them, Roadhog’s hand slapped over the squish of his chest where his heart thrummed in bliss, Junkrat’s clasped over his face as if he could barely stand the sight at all.

“Bloody hell, that’s cute!” He groaned from behind his fingers, one rolling eye peeking out in glee. “Too bloody’ sweet, me teeth are gonna fall right on out! Ahahahaha- _ But!” _

He slapped his dirty face with a loud clap of his hands, dispelling the warm glow of happiness that had begun to bubble in his brain and warm up his cheeks, and after shaking out any of the remaining fuzzies the pup had given him with its cuteness, plopped himself on the floor and got right to work.

To anyone else, the pile of metal and scrap he began to rummage through was nothing worthwhile, nothing but a pile of junk he’d swiped from off the street somewhere. They weren’t wrong about the source of the material, but if there was one positive thing to be said about Junkers (and to be honest maybe the  _ only  _ positive thing), is that where everyone else only saw ruin and destruction, they could see  _ opportunity,  _ something new glittering even in the decay of something forgotten.

Giggling with near feverish anticipation, the vision in this particular array of junk was crystal clear to Junkrat as his fingers scrambled to keep up with the frantic tic of his brain, one side keeping tight reins on his hands as they bolted and cut and created something special from nothing special, the other nearly singing as he worked,

_ ‘Wait til Snowball sees this, wait ‘til she sees this~!’ _

 

While Mei was more partial to light stretching and meditation for her morning exercise routine, she supposed there was no harm in switching up to a run once in awhile. Getting her legs moving, her heart pumping, it’d be an excellent way to start her day. Nevermind that she couldn’t run all too quickly, it was the effort she put forth that count, right? 

_ Oh, who am I kidding? _

She wasn’t speeding her way through the corridors of Gibraltar for exercise, or her own health. This was all about her new friend, who was waiting for her in the infirmary. 

The thought of the little pup waking up all alone in its bed, surrounded by the chirps and hums of strange medical equipment, the dim glow of morning stretching strange shadows all around it, quickened her step and filled the corridor with the metallic jingle of her hair ornament and the clunky stomp of her boots.

“Hang in there!” She urged under her breath, almost like a prayer. “I’m on my way!”

Zooming right behind all the while was her snowbot, its little motor humming furiously as it struggled to keep pace, and it let out a beep of distress as its owner’s back grew further and further away from it.

Mei slowed at once, smiling in gentle apology as she reached out to perch it on her shoulder. “Sorry, Blizzy, sorry!”

Once she was sure the little blue omnic was secure, its eyes little open triangles of gratitude, Mei picked up the pace once more. As she sped along, so did her thoughts. 

She thought once more of the pup, how it’d beat every possible odd stacked higher and higher against it. It made her smile to think of its gleaming eyes and wagging tail, even one leg short...And that particular note made her think of Junkrat. She wondered if he’d been serious about blowing open the doors and staying with the dog all night (it was hard to tell with the Junker, he alternated so frequently between seriously joking and joking when he was serious, it was exhausting to give either much thought at all) , and would he already be there by the time she got there? If he was, did that mean he hadn’t taken the time to get any rest himself, even after all he had been through himself that day?

Mei was struck by two things in that moment. The first was that was she thinking about  _ boorish, obnoxious, filthy Junkrat  _ of all bullies, and that rather than thinking any of those things about him as she usually did, she was actually almost  _ worrying  _ about him. Just yesterday morning there was nothing in the world that would have caused her to feel anything but contempt for the crazed man, not a single thing, and not even the cruel honesty the statement could cause her remorse, but she had witnessed something strange, something new about him yesterday as they worked  _ together ( _ Mei was certain Winston would have started hating peanut butter before she’d ever see that happen) to save the dog’s life. Not just a manic, gleeful desire to end life as she’d thought him only capable of, but the drive to save it. Sparks of kindness, compassion even, where she thought there was only a hateful blaze, destroying all in its path. Yesterday had taken every impression Mei had of Junkrat, every truth she had considered set in stone, and warped them into wet sand. Her negative feelings still stood resolute, but with the capacity to crumble if this tide of change kept churning.

The idea of Junkrat actually being a decent person would have been enough to knock Mei over alone, but then she was struck by the second thing.

_ Junkrat himself. _

So preoccupied with her surreal thoughts, Mei hadn’t realized she had already reached the infirmary, catching Junkrat on his way out in the most literal sense of the word.

“Oww, ow-ouch!” She groaned , the floor no longer a blur under her boots but hard and cold on her back. She could hear Blizzy beeping worriedly as it orbited around her face, checking to make sure she was alright.

Her eyes flashed open past her skewed, crooked frames to see golden ones staring back high above her head, gleaming nearly as brightly as the gold tooth in the smile below them.

_ “Why, Snowball!  _ I was jus’ about to come lookin’ for ya, but it looks like-ahahaha!” Junkrat jabbed at his soot-smeared nose with a snort and wink, “You were right under me nose! Ahahaha!”

He was too busy laughing at his own joke to offer her a hand up, so she stood all on her own, adjusting her glasses and dusting off her clothes with an annoyed huff he failed to notice. She went to just brush past him into the infirmary, but he quickly fell into an uneven gait at her side, offering not an apology, but a playful jab of the elbow and a cheeky “Even now from yesterday, yeah?” as they pushed side by side into the room.

Not having the patience to argue, her mind spinning from both the impact and the whiplash of feelings the Junker caused her,  Mei offered a curt, “Yes, fine,  _ fine!”  _ in response as she searched for the pup.

She was certain it was probably still in its bed resting, but she couldn’t tell for sure with the heaving mountain of flesh and scars that was Roadhog’s back blocking the way. The sight caused her to falter for just a moment.

Roadhog made her feel the complete opposite of how Junkrat did. Where Junkrat irritated Mei, fraying her nerves like cheap cotton under dull scissors, setting her cheeks ablaze in anger; Roadhog made each and every nerve wired tense in fear, drenched her spine with a sense of dread that left her (Mei Zhou of all people!)  _ cold  _ in her own skin. 

Junkrat was absolutely dangerous in his own right, this was indisputable even in face of his wide smile and immature hijinks, but Roadhog was danger  _ itself _ incarnate, his body less a collection of muscle and bone and sinew and more like skin stretched taut over a bubbling mass of violence and anger.

It felt wrong to Mei to even call him a man, it just wasn’t honest enough. Roadhog was an animal, he was a  _ monster,  _ he was-

Stroking the pup’s head with the utmost tenderness from where it dozed under his hand in a heaping pile of pachimari toys.

Mei could only gawk at the sight, her mouth open in a little ‘o’ of surprise. If Roadhog noticed her staring, he did not acknowledge it, rather he kept his attention focused solely on petting the dog, his rings catching in the light with every stroke of his hand. 

Mei had seen what that very hand was capable of on the battlefield a few times, and was the biggest reason why she outright avoided Roadhog as opposed to belittling him as openly as she did Junkrat. His right hand full of chain and hook and screaming victims (was it wrong to call their enemies victims? Maybe, but falling to Roadhog made it that much harder for her to say for sure), she had seen that left hand snap necks like twigs and pop eyes like grapes. That hand had peppered bullets into people with all the zeal of a conductor commanding a grand symphony, his guttural laughter bellowing over the sounds of death and suffering he created. Those same gold rings that were shimmering now, Mei had seen their sheen lost in slicks of blood and gore.

Yet here he was petting a puppy like his hand had never even swat at a fly.

Things remained silent and still like this for a short spell, and besides for the awkward tension in the air, the scene could have almost been described as quaint, but with Junkrat around, it of course did not last that way  for long.

Completely disregarding the fact that the dog had been in a gentle doze, he leapt on his bodyguard’s back with a piercing bark, one that startled not just Mei but the puppy as well, who awoke with a bark of its own and sent the mountain of plush toys tumbling around it.

“Rrrrrah!”

“Yip!”

Roadhog must have been used to such antics because he did not react at all to the maniac jostling all over his person, instead, Mei heard a sigh rattle from deep inside his mask as he pulled away from the dog, the movement appearing forced in its slow retreat. Laughing all the while, Junkrat flipped himself over his shoulder to tumble next to the pup in the bed, a mass squeak of pachimari’s escaping under his back when he landed, and began furiously kicking at Roadhog’s gut with his peg leg.

“C’mon Roadie, shove off, shove off! It’s my turn to pet the lil scrapper, _mine!”_ Junkrat wrapped his arms around the puppy’s wiggling, excited body, burying his face in its splotched fur despite the caked blood and filth to be found there. He glanced up for a second at Mei, and then a devious expression slick as oil crossed his face as he looked back over at Roadhog, his smile knowing.

“Oi, Roadie, get us some brekkie will ya? I’m starvin’! Snowball said she was hungry too!”

Mei shook her head no at once, glancing nervously from the darkness of Roadhog’s mask to Junkrat’s shit-eating grin. “N-no, I did not,-eheheh- I did not say that at all. I really didn’t. Don’t worry about me,  _ really _ . Thank you though! Thank you...”

She held up her hands and laughed weakly under the giant’s gaze, one that pressed down like a horrible pressure on her chest. She could feel Blizzy trembling from where it hid behind her shoulder, emitting the quietest chirps of terror near her ear.

Towering over her, he stood stock still, then...with a jerk of his shoulders (a snort? A laugh?) he turned on his boot and lumbered out of the room, his footsteps rolling heavy as thunder as he left.

Mei hadn’t realized she had been holding her breath until the doors slid shut behind him and she gasped aloud, dropping her hands to clutch at her pounding heart.

“Ahahaha! Snowball’s afraid of Roadie~!” Junkrat taunted in singsong, having watched the entire spectacle in a fit of giggles. The puppy, preoccupied with chewing on one of the many smiling onion faces around it, cared not so much. Junkrat ruffled its ears and stood with a clap of his hands, the sound extra loud with skin meeting metal. “Aw’rite, now that he’s gone, I can show ya the surprise!”

Mei was on guard at once, and she turned to Junkrat warily, crossing her arms tightly over her chest as if embracing for impact. “Surprise?” She echoed back, eyes narrowed into suspicious slits. “What surprise?”

The question seemed to be the magic words Junkrat had been waiting for, and bouncing foot to peg in his excitement, Junkrat hollered into the room not unlike a ringmaster announcing his circus,

“Can I get a drum roll please?”

He looked at Mei expectantly, but when her arms remained folded tighter still, he stuck his tongue out at her with a  _ pfffft!  _ Before providing his own, beating his hands rhythmically against the railing lining the bed.

The commotion was enough to make the puppy drop its toy and bark at Junkrat excitedly, and Mei watched, her pose slackening in awe at the sight, as it finally jumped to its feet...all  _ four. _

The one was not the same furry paw as the others, of course, but a curved blade that sprung along with the pup’s movements, working almost like a spring under its weight. It was the same burnt orange as Junkrat’s arm, even boasting the same clunky bolts, but not nearly as heavy looking from where its stump rested in the prosthetic sleeve. If the pup could tell the difference between its organic legs and its new leg scrounged up from junk, it didn’t seem to mind, scampering about as if it had never known anything different.

Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes, happy and hot as she shuffled over to the bed, her cheeks nearly aching with the width of her smile. “Look at you!” She cooed with arms outstretched, and finally noticing her presence, the dog bounded over to reach her touch with a bark that sounded like recognition, its tail wagging so hard its entire body shook with its joy. “You did it!” Mei cheered with a watery laugh as the dog forced its way under her palms, demanding to be pet and loved. She happily obliged as a few tears slipped down her face and into the curve of her grin, but she didn’t dare take her hands from the pup for a second to swipe them away. She simply didn’t care and she smiled down at the dog through blurred eyes.

The bed creaked under Junkrat’s sudden weight as he leaned in next to the pup on his elbow, his chin resting smugly in his palm. “Well?” He cocked one scorched brow at her expectantly, his eyes flickering from what was obviously his handiwork to her dampened face. “Whaddaya think? Not too shabby for a  _ Junker,  _ yeah?” 

Mei rolled her eyes, but found that she was  _ still smiling  _ even when her eyes found his again. Shaking her head with a giggle that was still a little choked with tears, she admitted sincerely, “It..it’s wonderful, Junkrat. Look at how happy it is!”

He flopped himself over on his stomach to see for himself, his lone gangly leg dangling over the bedside while his peg leg clanged noisily against the railing, and Mei saw it once more, his  _ real  _ smile. Not the cruel one full of slime and ill intent, not the toothy one thirsty for carnage and stretched wide in madness, but an actual  _ human being  _ smile. She would never dare to say it out loud, but it suited him. Suited him very well, even.

The sight spurred something in her then, and before she could stop herself, even think to stop herself, she blurted out enthusiastically, “Good onya!”

Junkrat sent the pup tumbling with the speed he flipped himself over to face her, not even to gawk but to  _ marvel in joy.  _ “Oi, wot did ya just say?!” He scrambled up from the bed to meet her nose to nose, stooping his back over just to do so. “Wot-ahahaha!-wot did ya just say?!” He asked again as she shrunk back from his sudden exuberance.

Mei suddenly felt very shy, and very foolish, and muttered more to the floor than to him. “Um, that thing we said yesterday, right? Doesn’t it mean...good job or something?” She motioned feebly to the pup’s not new but new prosthetic, humiliation tensing her muscles tight and sputtered on, “You did...a good job with the leg, is all- eeeep!”

She shrieked as Junkrat clapped her around the shoulders and spun her around with a whoop, nearly went tumbling away when he set her down to declare proudly, “Good onya, she says! The ice queen herself paid ol Junkrat here a compliment!” he boasted to the pup, who barked happily in response though it honestly didn’t understand. 

He could have kept bragging on,  _ would  _ have kept bragging on when something shiny on the floor caught his eye, and if there was one thing he loved more than anything, it was shiny stuff. ’“Ooooh, ‘n wot’s this here!” He cooed as he made a dive for it past Mei’s leg, who was busy regaining her balance after the sudden spin in his arms. Had it been flung from her pocket just now? Her reaction answered his question not a moment later.

“What’s- _ be careful with that!!!” _

The Aussie barely had time to register what he had picked up as Mei lunged to snatch it from his hand, but he was quicker, and also taller, and he used this advantage to raise whatever it was high above the smoking tendrils of his head. “Blimey, Snowball, take it easy! I won’t break it!”  _ Probably. _

Mei only tried harder, jumping against his chest to try to swipe the object away from his reach. “Give it back!” She commanded, then again, more as a plea, “Junkrat, give it back.  _ Please.  _ I made it for our friend. _ ” _

She stared at him imploringly, and the look in her big doe eyes combined with the fact she had said  _ our friend  _ made the Junker relent his teasing a little sooner than he normally would have. He paused just for a second before handing it back to examine just what  _ it  _ was, and Junkrat had to admit, he was impressed.

It was a collar, obviously handmade by Mei herself. She had woven alternating strands of deep blue and sky blue thread together to make a delicate pattern, not unlike a snowflake, and had adorned it with a single bell, as red and round as a cherry. 

It jingled a bit as he passed it from his hand to her’s, and she clutched it tightly away from him, protecting it. He hadn’t even asked why she had made it, hadn’t even been planning on asking really, when she began to explain in an embarrassed ramble more towards the collar than to him, “I know it’s not for sure that the puppy can even stay with us yet, but I know Winston and I know he won’t send it away without a home, so this can be its home now, so I made this collar to show that it’s a part of us now and-”

Junkrat cut her off by waving his hand blithely in the air, as if swatting her explanation away like a biting fly. “Oi, Snowball? Y’know what I think?”

_ “You think?” _ Is what Mei wanted to say, would have said just a day ago even, but merely shrugged her shoulders in question to try and keep the peace. The pup was carefully watching their exchange after all. “W-what?”

He winked in good humor. “ _ Good onya, Mei.” _

Something shifted between them then as they grinned at each other then, something new and pleasant sprouting from a joke only they shared, from the mutual love they already had for the pup as its rescuers. It was like the sun warming up a thick fog that had been clouding their eyes, incapable of truly seeing the other save for a rough outline that they left for their imagination to fill in the rest, the way children find monsters crouching in piles of clothes and perched in the branches of trees in the dark, and slowly dispelling it in its warmth, revealing something quite different from what they had initially thought.

Neither Mei or Junkrat would’ve minded things just staying like that for a bit, just the three of them all warm and even happy, but-

The scene was broken by a sudden commotion at the door, two voices swelling loudly over the sound of mechanical whirring and digital beeping. 

“First,  _ first!  _ I got here first, love, haha!”

“You sure about that, Lena? I mean, you did great, girl...but  _ I _ did a little better, know what I’m saying? _ ” _

Lena and Lucio stood shoulder to shoulder in the infirmary’s door, their faces flushed and eyes gleaming with the fire of friendly competition.  Another voice came rasping from the corridor behind them, breathless with the effort of trying to keep up with the two fastest members of Overwatch in a race.

“Y-you...you noobs need to cool it with the r-races!” Came the exhausted grumble of Hana Song as she shoved past them into the room, her chest heaving. “Unless it’s Mario Kart, you know I do  _ not  _ like to race with you guys…Now,” she suddenly snapped to attention, one hand on her hip as she regarded Mei and Junkrat with a pink whiskered grin, “Where is the puppy- _ Oooohhh! _ ”

The trio brought along not just a surplus of positive, electric energy that filled the previously drab room with laughter and light, but offerings of friendship to the pup as well.

After Hana had dove into the bed to take at least a dozen or so selfies with the puppy tucked under her arm, some wearing her bright celebrity smile that could be seen on movie posters and in tv commercials the world over, others pouting playfully that made her look more like a normal girl than a star soldier, she brought her bunny encased phone closer to show the pup for itself how cute they looked together.

“See, that’s you! ” Hana cooed, kissing the top of the dog’s head with a smack of her strawberry lip balm mouth. “ 귀여운 강아지!”

Then, a mischievous twinkle in her eye, she reached into the large tote bag she brought with her and began to boast as she pulled out an array of  fabrics awash in all sorts of bright colors and designs, “You’re all gonna need to step up your gift game, because mine are top shelf!”

She had brought the dog...outfits, from her own name brand line of fashion designed specifically for pets.

“See this logo?” She held up a bubblegum pink rain slicker and pointed a polished nail to a smug, grinning bunny on the back, wearing a similar expression on her own round face. “This is how you know it’s D.VA official!”

The logo was found on every outfit she had brought, one of each from the entire line. Fuzzy pajamas to keep it warm at night, a bunny-eared hoodie to ward off the chill, both a frilled dress and a tux for the  _ special  _ occasions…

Hana had been showing off how the swimsuit bottoms had a cut just for the tail when Junkrat screamed in indignant frustration, stomping his peg leg hard enough to nearly crack the floor,

“It’s a dog!  _ A bloody dog!  _ A dog ain’t ‘posed ta be wearin’ clothes, it should be in the nuddy! What kinda drongo puts clothes on a dog?!”

“Oh, I don’t know...Whoever dressed you in the dark this morning, Rat!”

While the two spat and hissed at each other over the sense of animal fashion, Lena and Lucio joined Mei’s side with their own gifts.

“It might not be a ballgown,” Lena teased rolling her eyes towards the extravagant pile of clothes the pup was burrowing through with a curious nose, “But I did bring the lil love some treats! Is it alright for it to have some, Mei?”

She shook the metal tin in her hands and the dog’s ears were up at once, the sound seemingly familiar to it. When Tracer shook it again, the dog began to yip and bark excitedly, racing behind the bars of its bed in eager circles.

Giggling behind her hand, the climatologist nodded in her head at her longtime friend. “I believe so, Lena. Angela even said it’d be good to encourage its appetite, get it wanting to eat again, so what better way than with treats from a new friend?”

The pup vanished from the bed in a flash of blue light, reappearing with Lena a few seconds back besides Mei and Lucio. It seemed thoroughly confused as to how it had gone so suddenly from the warmth of its bed to the cradle of her arms, and looked up at her smiling, freckled face with a tilt of its head, huffing in bewilderment.

Lena merely booped its nose with a giggle, her nose crinkled in delight. “Aww, look at you, love! You’re perfect!”

It seemed there was no need to encourage the pup’s hungry belly in the least with the speed it wolfed down the bone shaped biscuits Tracer offered it, the treats disappearing from her open palm like it had been empty to begin with all along.

Whiskers now coated with crumbs, the pup snuffled at her hand eagerly for more, but finding nothing, turned up its face with big and imploring eyes. 

The British woman pushed the dog into Lucio’s arms at once, and had barely piped, “Be right back!” before she was gone, and then back again before the echo of her farewell had even left the air. She had two whole new tins full of treats in her arms and the dog lit up at the sight.

“I’m back!” She cheered, seemingly in the same breath she had left with, and eagerly went to scoop the puppy back from Lucio’s arms when the musician skated away with a laugh, mechanical prosthetics whirring.

“Deeee-nied!” He whooped playfully, skating in between Junkrat and Hana and breaking up their spat. It was a wonder that the tension between them hadn’t knocked him right off his skates doing so.

His feet ever moving, ever twirling, he examined the dog’s new prosthetic with a hum of approval. “Jaime, my man, great work on the leg! It looks awesome! We can be a squad now, y’know? The Metal Leg Brigade!”

Never humble, Junkrat puffed out his burnt chest at the compliment, as if  trying to absorb the kind words into his skin itself and wear them like tattoos of honor. “Ya don’t hafta ta tell me, Frogs, I know it’s ace! I built it meself!” He boasted, leaning it to rub it in Hana’s face. “At least  _ my  _ gift is actually good for sumthin, yeah? A dog  _ needs  _ a leg, not a  rubbish pair of tweeds!” 

At the sight of Hana squaring up her tiny fists, ready to deck the Junker hard as she could, Lucio quickly intervened, his voice light and soothing. “Hey, easy,  _ easy!  _ All the gifts are nice, they’re all from friends. Plus, they all made the lil guy right here happy, right? That’s what counts.”

Lucio’s dazzling smile, combined with the puppy he bounced in his arms to remind everyone why they were there to begin with, was nearly too much cuteness for the rest of the room to handle, and the tension broke at once under his warm gaze as everyone looked away with flushed faces.

_ Got ‘em! _

“But uh, now that we’ve seen the rest…” He chuckled boyishly as he set the pup down on the ground and from his pocket, pulled out a small audio player. He pressed a couple of the buttons, configuring something or another, then let out a  _ ha! _ of triumph when a song began to pulse and pound through its speakers. Like all of his music, it was upbeat and catchy, full of the positive vibes the young man tried to fill the world up with every day, both up on stage and on the battlefield. “Get ready for the best!”

The atmosphere in the room, gloomy from being in the drab confines of the infirmary, shifted at once into something light, something fun.

The pup itself seemed to sense the change with a twitch of its whiskers and a flap of its ears, and looked to Lucio with bright eyes and a lolling tongue. It wiggled its body, filled with energy and ready to play, and began to race about the room, weaving in and out between everyone’s legs and howling along with the music.

Mei clapped her hands in delight, and began to bounce on her boots in time with the rhythm. “Lucio, this sounds great. I think our friend thinks so too!”

“I’ve never heard this one before, dude. Did you mix something new?” Hana asked as she wiggled her hips on over to Mei to join in with her dancing. Giggling, the two women lost themselves to the music, stooping down low to encourage the pup whenever it’d stop by to squirm in excitement at their feet before racing off again, its prosthetic squeaking under its speed.

Eyes closed, hands flowing and cutting through the air as if he was feeling out his own beats, the Brazilian nodded in confirmation. “Mmm-hmm. Just a little somethin’ I whipped up last night, no biggie. I only had to tweak the sound a bit for it to work. I don’t think it’ll work the same magic like Angela, but it’ll give that magic the boost it needs, pump the lil guy up, know what I mean? Just, it’s crazy! I knew it’d do him some good, but not like,  _ this  _ good! It’s incredible how music can reach animals the same way it reaches people…”

He was watching the pup wind figure eights between Junkrat’s boot and peg leg, as if trying to trip him up into a dance, and laughed. The pup reminded him of a stray dog that lived back in his old neighborhood back when he was a kid, a happy and energetic mutt that he and his neighbors took turns feeding and even housing when the weather got bad. It was almost ironic, that by being homeless that dog found itself with a whole block of homes, of families, who loved it. That dog too had known suffering, it’s left eye nothing but the silver rind of scar long since healed, a heavy limp pulling on its stride, but still its tail kept wagging, it stayed friendly even the world hadn’t been.

_ If only the folks at Vishkar were as cool as dogs… _

“Woah!”

He was pulled, quite literally, from his memories by Hana yanking on his arm and dragging him over to their little dance circle. Even Junkrat had joined in now, his arms spastic noodles that moved to no rhythm or beat, from high above his head to low past his waist,  tripping over his one boot as he tried to kick and dance. Mei was watching the display with her head tilted back, laughing full and loud and actually encouraging him on.

“Haha, what are you doing, Junkrat? Keep it going, haha!”

“Hooley dooley, I’m on fire! Don’t stop me now, ahahahaha!”

His jaw dropped and Hana nudged him in the ribs, one delicate brow arched high.

“I know, right?”

“Wow, I knew my music was good, but if it can make  _ those two  _ get along…” He whistled low and very much pleased with himself, “I need to make another album, like  _ now.” _

The pup dashed up to him then, rearing its front paws up high, and reminded him that now could always be later. After all, it was time to dance!

By the time Roadhog returned with breakfast, taking the long way around to the kitchen so his boss would have plenty of time to show off his handiwork to Mei, the party was already in full swing. And as he had done at parties long before donning his pig mask, when he was still Mako Rutledge and Roadhog was a name that would have just left him confused, the Junker kept the snacks to himself and went looking for the dog to pet, avoiding everyone else in the room.

 

As it turned out, having a dog at Gibraltar turned out to be quite the sensation for Overwatch. The infirmary, once a quiet place of recovery and order, soon became one of the liveliest spots on base, the air alive with chatter and laughter over the parade of heads constantly ebbing and flowing through its doors as more of the base’s heroes came to visit the new star patient residing there.

Reinhardt and Ana came to visit together, chuckling at all of the commotion in good humor. The dog, as intimidated as it had been by Roadhog’s size, had no qualms at all  about running straight up to the former Crusader, though, pawing at his knees until he had no choice but to pick him up.

“Look at you, my friend!” He boomed his praise, raising the pup high above his head like a crowned champion. “Standing strong even after losing your leg, a true warrior you are!”

Reinhardt brought the pup level to his one good eye, which was crinkled in bright blue joy. “Yes, don’t you worry. Old Reinhardt here will build you a glorious armor, one that will keep you from any more harm! You’ll even get your own crest! How does that sound?”

When the pup merely licked his nose in response, the room filled with the loud drum of his laughter. “So we are in agreement, yes!”

Meanwhile, Ana had approached Mei and Junkrat with a small bundle in her hands and a proud smile on her face. “These? These are for you, for a job well done.”

As the two often took tea together (Ana letting out a small  _ tsk  _ whenever Mei would add honey to sweeten her’s) she had brought Mei a satchel of tea blended especially for promoting relaxation and sleep, and had teased, “Every new mother struggles to sleep with a baby, whether that baby is human or not.  _ Trust me on this. _ ”

For Junkrat, a salve of her own recipe to help heal his burns, old and new alike. “What you did was very brave, Jamison….” And though it was not so much a gift, she also bestowed to him a slap outside his head. “But also very stupid. Take better care of yourself before I have to, understand? Especially now you have someone else to look out for. You wouldn’t want to leave them behind…”

She smiled then to show she hadn’t meant her words to bite so hard, but there was a quiet sadness to be found in the motion, a light that did not reach her eye...until she had her own chance to cradle the dog, and with the squirmy ball of fur in her arms, not only did the sadness seem to dissipate from her face, but so did the years of hardship and regret she had burdened alone, and if only for a moment, she looked more like the Ana of Overwatch’s glorious past then a sniper lost to violence and time.

As if sensing those easier times of old, even Jack Morrison made an appearance about then. He had come not so much for well wishes or gift giving, but to issue a single order, “Keep it down, will you? You’re making a racket! Some of us had missions this morning.”

He went to turn on his heel and march out of the room, Hana and Junkrat twisting up their noses and poking out their tongues at his retreating back, when the pup pounced on his leg, chewing at the hem of his pants with energetic vigor as if to pull him back in.

“Oh my gosh!” Mei had squeaked at the sight, rushing forward to pull the pup away from him. “I’m sorry, Jack! Sorry, sorry,  _ sorry!” _

There was no need for her to be, though. Turning into a kneel, his scarred face wincing for just a second in pained effort before returning once more to stoney indifference, he looked the pup in the eye and if sizing him up as a new cadet rather than a dog.

The pup growled playfully, then yipped, ears tensing up as if at attention. The sight pulled an exceptionally rare chuckle out of Jack, the sound rumbling from deep where he kept it buried in his chest and whether it sounded so raspy from lack of use or  the battered state of his lungs, it was hard to tell.

“At ease, soldier.” He commanded, swiping his hand over the top of the pup’s head once before leaving the room with a twitch in the corner of his mouth.

The sound of Jack’s boots receding down the hall had only just faded away when a pleased whistle came from outside the door. “Hoo! Glad I wasn’t there to get  _ my  _ ear chewed off this time, right darlin’?”

Never slow on the draw in a fight but always fashionably late to a party, Jesse McCree came sauntering in with all of his usual swagger, his  _ darlin’  _ in question Hanzo Shimada as composed as ever by his side. 

The archer merely rolled his eyes, his silver brows arching high in exasperation. “You probably did something to deserve it, I am sure…”

Jesse slapped his hand over his heart, as if wounded by his words. “Hey now! I ain’t never done a thing wrong in my life to deserve a scolding, not a single one-ow!”

Pulling back from where she had tweaked his ear, Ana grinned at him mischievously. “From what I remember, Jesse, I wouldn’t bet your life on that statement. Not the first time your ear has met my pinch, yes?”

Rubbing at his now red ear, Jesse chose to ignore her teasing and turned his face away with as much pride as he could muster as a grown man dressed willingly in chaps and spurs. “Now where is the lil scamp? I’ve been hearin’ about him all day and wanna take a look-see myself!” Tilting his hat ever so slightly up from his eyes, the cowboy scanned the room for sight of the dog,  and seeing him curled up at Junkrat’s foot, he gave a short, piercing whistle to call him over.

The pup came bounding over almost right away, barking eagerly all the while, and Jesse crouched down low to scoop it up in his arms when-

It bound right past him to jump up at Hanzo instead.

With a grimace, the older man flinched away from its scrambling paws and high pitched yips, unfolding his tattooed arms to try and shoo it off. “No, no! Off! Away with you at once!” He growled, taking one step back then two, the puppy only toddling after him in a clumsy circle of chase.

When he glanced up and saw Hana recording the ordeal on her phone, her laughter barely muffled from behind her hand as she undoubtedly schemed to send it to his brother, he pleaded with the dog, struggling to retain his composure, “Go...go see Jesse!  _ Go on!” _

If the pup could understand his commands, it did not care to heed them. Taking his flapping hands and slight pitch in tone as encouragement to keep on playing, it continued to wiggle around his ankles, nip at his clothes and fingers. 

He looked to his lover for help, to come snatch the noisy little beast away before he got too aggressive with trying to turn it away, but found only the honeysuckle smile he loved so much grinning back at him, too entertained to step in and stop anything.

“Why, Hanzo!” McCree drawled, rubbing at his stubbled chin in delight like he was watching a grand show, his tough as nails boyfriend getting pushed around by a three-legged puppy that didn’t even reach his knees, “I never took you for a dog person! Maybe a dragon, or a parakeet, but never a pup!” 

He winked only to further Hanzo’s distress and joked, “It suits you.”

Pushed to the absolute limits of his patience, a lone vein throbbing thick and angry in his temple, Hanzo snatched the dog up from under its front legs with a huff, leaving its back legs to dangle.

“You! Shh!” He hissed at its whiskered face, his own sideburns nearly bristling. “You are much too noisy little one! Leave me alo-”

The pup licked his nose, snuffing out his rage leaving him squinting at the dog dangerously.

“Oh, you think that’s funny, do you?” Hanzo asked the dog as if it could truly understand him (“I think it’s bloody hilarious, ahahaha!” he heard Junkrat quip in the background, followed by the slap of him high-fiving with Hana), lightly jabbing the pup with an accusatory finger. Accepting his challenge, the dog took his finger between his tiny jaws and began to gnaw at his knuckle as if to sever it, growling.

“That...that doesn’t hurt, you know? You are  _ weak _ .” 

His voice wavered slightly around the edges at tickle of the dog’s gentle nipping, his brows still low and solemn but something glinting in his eye now, something not unkind or cruel. “Are you foolish enough to think that is enough to bow the powerful Hanzo Shimada?”

He pulled his finger back to poke it again, but this time, he waggled his finger ever so slightly to tickle the pup’s fur. “Well,  _ haha,  _ you thought wrong!”

He didn’t laugh because the dog looked cute trying to attack his hand or anything, all gentle puppy bites and play growling, or because it felt nice to do something warm and kind when he felt he deserved neither one of those things. Hanzo hadn’t meant to laugh at all, but-

Jesse slung an affectionate arm over his shoulder, and he knew it wouldn’t matter how much he protested and explained the action away. He never could hide anything from the gunslinger’s keen eye after all.

Inhaling deeply through his nose, dignified even in defeat, Hanzo admitted, “I suppose dogs do make rather...honorable companions.”

When the two men left, red faced and happy, the rest of the room pretended not to notice the affectionate pat McCree bestowed upon Hanzo’s backside.

Others came and went as their missions allowed. Both Genji and Zenyatta made a brief appearance before getting heckled viciously out of the room by Junkrat (“You bots best leave now before I blow ya out in pieces, meself!”), the zen omnic slyly leaving behind one of his harmony spheres for the dog to use as a ball as he floated from the room, unfazed by the Junker’s rage.

Hearing that the dog was an amputee much like himself, Torbjörn tried to bring it a prosthetic of his own design, and visibly recoiled at the sight of Junkrat’s handiwork already attached to the pup’s stump. “Hmph! You call that a prosthetic?” He snorted, as if the leg had been crafted from paste and macaroni, the unintelligent design of a particularly unimaginative child. 

Hacking a loogie towards the engineer's boot, Junkrat had merely sneered in response, “Oh? And yer’s is so much better, innit? Let me give ya and your hunk of junk-ahahaha!- a  _ hand!”  _ and applauded him out of the room, laughing himself into hysterics that lasted long after the smaller man had retreated.

“Get it?” He asked Mei afterwards, who pursed her lips at him in annoyance. “Because the bloke has no hand, ahahaha!”

Throughout all the gifts and visits, though, Mei and Junkrat remained by each other’s side. It was partially out of necessity, with every new guest came the same repeating questions, “What happened, anyways? How did you find it?” and they were the only two who had the answers to those questions.

With each retelling, Junkrat grew more and more emboldened in stretching the truth to paint a more exciting picture, exaggerating the details in the story until the truth was nearly lost in the drama and suspense, a director gone mad with power, and that was what Mei was there for, to bring both the story and Junkrat back to Earth and ground them in the reality of what  _ really  _ happened.

“So after Mei here abandoned yer poor mate Junkrat ta fend off twenty... _ twenty dozen  _ of those Los Muertos sods-”

“I did  _ not  _ abandon you! I took cover from the blast! And, I’m sorry, Junkrat? Twenty dozen soldiers? There wasn’t even a single dozen-”

“ _ Anyhoo!  _ There I was, jus me ‘n the boot on me one foot to fend ‘em all off-”

_ “Junkrat!” _

It wasn’t as if they were  _ stuck  _ together, though. No, they  _ chose _ to remain near the other, almost like parents carefully chaperoning their child’s first birthday party together. A little nervous, a little excited, finding some refuge in the fact the other felt the same as they did.

“Oi, that sheila with the pink hair and tattoos? She’s a mate of yer’s, right, Mei?”

“ _ Zarya?  _ Um, yes...why?”

“Don’t be glarin’ at me all suspicious like that!  _ Blimey!  _ I was jus thinkin that if you, or me, or even Hog can’t watch the lil ankle biter, she’d make an absa-bloody-lutely awesome bodyguard for it, don’t’cha think?”

“That’s...that’s actually a good idea, Junkrat….Hey! Zarya, can I ask you something?”

Maybe it didn’t feel so weird for either one to be spending so much time with the other because there were so many other people around to buffer them, their own mutual friends and teammates engaging them both and keeping them busy, and of course there was the puppy keeping them on their toes as they made sure it was taking breaks to drink and eat and rest under so many eager hands, but overall, if they chose to admit it aloud or not…

Mei and Junkrat had fun together that day.

 

The last of the visitors to stop in, surprisingly enough, was Mercy herself. She came gliding into room just as it had emptied out, finally leaving Mei and Junkrat alone with one very exhausted pup collapsed between them, completely spent after such an thrilling day. 

“Busy day, I take it?” she asked the pair with a wry smile, maybe just a little bit irritated at the day long ruckus that had taken up her work space. Besides the slight hitch of tension in her voice, her gaze was warm as she gazed at the gentle rise and fall of the pup’s dozing form, and she asked, a little more softly this time, “And how did the patient do today?”

“Lil’ fella was apples, doc!” Junkrat confirmed proudly, fingers laced behind his head from where he leaned back in his chair, one filthy boot rocking him back and forth on its back legs. “Jus’ like a true Junker, nothin’ can keep ‘im down!”

Mei wrinkled her nose at him. “Don’t call it that! It’s a dog, not a Junker!”

“Oi! Dogs can be Junkers, and Junkers can be dogs! What’s the problem with that?”

Rather than meeting his disgruntled stare, Mei was examining her fingernails as if there suddenly something very interesting about them. “Oh, nothing. Nothing at all,” she sniffed, then sniffing again louder in his direction. Her smile was nearly as impish as his as she teased, “I mean,  _ you  _ certainly smell like a dog yourself, soooo….”

Junkrat slapped his knee with a whoop, and brought the chair’s legs down hard to the floor with a  _ clack! _ , loud enough to wake the dog with a start. He stared from Mei to Angela with a wide-open grin, his bulging eyes popped even wider than normal in amusement.

“Can you believe the snark of this sheila, doc!?” He howled, jabbing a thumb in Mei’s direction, who basked smugly in the throes of  his reaction. “Ya got sumthin’ you can prescribe to fix that sass, huh?!”

Apparently on a roll now, Mei further quipped, “No, but maybe she can prescribe something to heal that burn I just gave you?”

The two burst into laughter that left Angela stunned, blinking at the pair in disbelief. Well, not so much Junkrat, whom these rambunctious types of outbursts were expected from, but Mei especially.

She and Dr. Zhou had always been close, why, they had even been good friends long before Mei’s ill-fated trip to the Arctic, and never in all those years of friendship would she had ever suspected the climatologist to get along with, let alone share a laugh with, someone such as Jamison Fawkes.

Mei had been very vocally opposed to the Junkers being hired into Overwatch since before they even arrived on base, and Angela had lent her friend a patient ear even after their arrival to let her vent her frustrations about putting up with the smaller, louder-mouth of the two Australians on an occasion or two or ten...and it had been surprising for the doctor to see someone as full of love and compassion as Mei brimming with such a venomous hatred for the duo.

Angela thought she’d seen progress just watching the two share a handshake the other night, but this? To see them getting along so well after months of friction and spite? This was…

“Wonderful!” She cheered, clasping her hands together in nearly maternal pride. At Junkrat and Mei’s baffled gawking to her sudden outburst, she coughed delicately into her fist and added as if she’d been meaning to say all along, “Ahem, I mean...I have some wonderful news to share with you both!” She motioned grandly towards the pup, eager to get their questioning eyes off her blushing face. “About your friend here!”

That seemed to do the trick, and the duo settled down at once. Well, Junkrat as much as he could manage, which is to say he still bounced his knees and cracked his knuckles and picked at the stitches on his shorts and still giggled at seemingly nothing at all. In the very least, his usual darting eyes were trained on her.

“Oh, yea? Wot’s the good word, doc?”

Pulling a tablet slipped away in the pocket of her white doctor’s coat, she hummed thoughtfully. “Well, I’ve been monitoring its vitals throughout the day, you see…” She leaned in to give them both a fair view of the device, which was flashing busily with an array of graphs and numbers and even what appeared to be a 3D model of the pup itself, its back leg missing and all, “And it’s clear all across the board. Stable heart rate, strong pulse, all traces of infection neutralized-thanks to my nanohealing-” She boasted this with a lighthearted wink to abstain from sounding too conceited, “And even the nerve endings in its damaged knee are regaining their sensory function and receiving neurosignals from the brain again, which is why I believe it took to its prosthetic with such ease-”

“No need ta thank me!” Junkrat beamed, puffing out his chest. “Jus’ call me Doctor Junkrat, PHD!”

Mei adjusted her glasses with a snort. “Doctor Junkrat Doctor?” She echoed back, giggling alongside Angela at the Aussie’s cluelessness.

Junkrat took their laughter in stride, sticking up two metal fingers in their faces. “Sure! I’m a doctor so bloody nice, they named me twice!”

Angela shook her head, blonde ponytail swaying behind her head. “I’d love to see your credentials sometime,  _ Doctor Fawkes.  _ Anyways,” steering the conversation back to her original point, she continued on, “What I’m trying to say is, the patient is free to go!”

Mei clapped her hands in delight at the news, jumping up from her seat at once. “That’s wonderful, Dr. Ziegler! Oh, come here!” 

She embraced the woman in a warm hug, tight in its sincerity. “Thank you so much for all of your help, Angela.” Mei murmured over her friend’s shoulder, words alone not enough to express her gratitude for all of her work.

Angela suddenly yelped in their embrace, and before Mei could even ask what had startled her, she felt another pair of arms encircling over her own and looked over to see Junkrat was giving Angela a hug of his own from behind her, sandwiching her between himself and Mei.

“Yeah, thanks mate.” He hummed, oblivious to how uncomfortable he had suddenly made both women by joining in on the hug. “Ya really do have them wings for a reason, don’t’cha? Such a stand-up sheila...”

Angela broke free from them both with a gasp, her hand clasped tightly over her nose from having to endure the Junker’s terrible stench at such close proximity. If Mei was being honest, she’d actually hardly noticed his stink at all just now, a blessing obtained only by suffering through his presence all day long, and shuddered at the memory of how awful it really was before being desensitized to it. Poor Angela…

Coughing deeply into one hand and using the other to smooth down her ruffled blonde hair, the doctor wheezed, “Y-yes! S...so if you two could please pack up here and leave me to my work, I’d- _ oh goodness, that’s awful- _ ahem...I’d truly appreciate it.”

She did not offer them a single finger of help as they gathered up the pup’s new treasure trove of presents it’d received throughout the day, the weight of the bag nothing on Junkrat’s shoulders compared to the burden of his RIP Tire, and he shuffled out with it easily as Mei cradled the drowsy pup in her arms behind him, rocking it close to her chest to keep in warm and comfortable with the move. Angela did, however, follow them to the door with some important words of parting.

“While I was happy to help,” She beamed, nose still only slightly wrinkled from the odor Junkrat had forced her to inhale, and while those words were true, she seemed even more pleased to promise them, “I will be sending you my consultation fee soon! Or better yet-” She clapped her hands together in sudden thought, struck by her own brilliance. “I’ll have Winston pull it directly from your mercenary pay this month, okay, Mr. Fawkes?”

“Yeah, sure, sure...Wait, wot!?”

Before Junkrat could even swivel his head back around, the good doctor had shut and locked the doors, leaving them stuck in the hallway with not just the burden of medical expenses, but a dilemma.

Which of them would the dog stay with now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TBH Overwatch really needs a dog on their team, Persona 3 style.


	4. All In A Name

The next morning, Mei awoke from a very strange dream. This in itself was quite odd, as Mei usually didn’t dream to begin with, at least, not since her ten year long sleep in cryofreeze. She figured maybe during those terribly long years, her brain had conjured up and played every dream it could possibly conceive, and then all over again, and that, by the time she had woken up she simply had no dreams left to have.

Apparently this was not so, and she could recall everything that happened in such vivid detail, it left her head pounding. It had all been so very real...

The dream started out immediately bizarre in that she was following Junkrat to his room, something she’d never do in her waking hours. For what reason would she ever follow such a dreadful person to a place she imagined to be equally awful, a rodent’s nest for a rodent man? Even more strange, though, was the fact she didn’t seem to mind that she was following him there. No, she hadn’t felt angry, or threatened as they wound their way through Gibraltar to the private set up the Junkers had claimed as part of their contract with Overwatch, meaning their living spaces were much roomier and nicer than the rest of what the heroes had for their own, with their generous payout to boot.

No, she wasn’t even upset about that...she was just a bit worried, and not even for her own sake.

“Really? You’re sure about the pup staying with you two?” She called out ahead to him, waving her hand with a small cough to dispel the smoke wafting from his hair and into her eyes.

She could still see his burnt and battered back clearly before her as she hurried behind him in the dream, his robotic arm slinging a bulging bag over his shoulder, the other carrying their rescue puppy in the crook of his arm. Even under layers of soot and gunpowder and smoke, there was an obvious toned strength to be found on his exposed body under the effort, and Mei tried to shake both the memory and the blush out of her face.

“Sure I’m sure!” Junkrat had reaffirmed with the utmost confidence, flashing her a gold-tooth smile from over his shoulder that wasn’t obscured by the bag. “Our mate’s sure too! Right, lil fella?”

He jostled the sleeping dog for backup, but it only whimpered and turned its face away in exhaustion. 

“See? Restin’ easy in his certainty, ahahaha!”

Well, maybe he was certain, and maybe the pup truly didn’t mind either, but Mei still had her doubts, and she voiced them as they shambled along the corridor. 

“Are you sure...Mr.Rutledge won’t mind?”

Junkrat seemed genuinely confused as he stopped to quirk a brow at her, head cocked as if he had not quite heard her right. “Ummm,  _ who izzat now?” _

Mei could hardly believe she had to answer him that.  _ Is he just joking around? There’s no way he’s being serious… _

“Um..you know, your bodyguard who's with you all the time? Large tattooed belly, wears that scary mask?  _ Roadhog?” _

His face lit up in sudden recognition, and he nodded his head in enthusiastic understanding. “Oh, ya mean Roadie! Why didn’t ya just say so, Snowball? Ya forget his name or sumthin’? How rude, ahahahaha!” He turned his back on her once more, still cackling to himself.  _ “Who the hell is Rutledge?”  _ he mused under his breath, continuing his march forward.

It seemed as if he had forgotten to answer her initial question entirely when he suddenly cried out, “Ahahaha! Yeah, the last bloke ya have to worry ‘bout is Hog. He loves the lil guy already, didn’t ya see? Half this bloody bag are those lil onion things he stole for ‘im...Uhh, I mean, won fair and square at the arcade?!”

He smiled sheepishly at Mei’s furrowed brows, hoping she hadn’t caught his slip up. She had, of course, if there was one thing Junkrat was not it was subtle, but chose to let it go with a deep breath and a roll of her eyes. Stolen claw machine prizes were not exactly her peak concern right now. Would the dog really be alright with both Junkrat and Roadhog? The obvious answer was a vehement, obvious no, but-

Remembering how gently the mammoth Junker had tended to the puppy during its stay in the infirmary, the argument dissolved on the back of her tongue. Though it defied all logic and was a far cry from what Roadhog would surely be capable of doing to such a small and helpless creature if he put his mind to it, Mei was certain he wouldn’t put his mind to anything cruel. Or so she was duped by dream logic into believing, anyways.

Realizing that they’d soon be approaching the Junkers’ lair, Mei racked her brain for any other reason that the dog would be better off with her rather than with them.

At this point, it was obvious her opposition was not so much out of fear for the dog’s well-being, the Junkers having proven themselves more than capable of taking good care of it and meaning no harm (truly she had never dreamt anything more bizarre than that!) but truthfully, she struggled out of selfish want alone.

Though her quarters were much smaller and more humble than where the Junkers slept, Mei had already set up a small corner of it to make the pup’s home. She had set out both a food and water dish, one filled with puppy kibble she had asked Zarya to pick up while out on a mission, the other waiting to be filled with water so that’d it be fresh and cold for when the pup actually arrived. She also had fashioned a bed out of one of her old parkas for her new friend, a deep pillow that was plush and comfortable to the touch, but she hadn’t the heart to set it out. Surely the pup would be frightened to be sleeping in a new place after bouncing from Dorado to the infirmary to her room, so why not let it cuddle besides her for a night or two? Then they’d both be warm and cuddled close for comfort, and oh, it’d be so nice to have something warm and alive in her otherwise cold and lonely sheets...

Some glass suddenly crunched under her boot and Mei realized she might have found her winning ticket to taking the pup instead. “Junkrat! Broken glass!?” She chided, fighting to keep her mouth from twitching into a smug smile. She glowered at him darkly, a look she had perfected by turning it upon him many a time previously. “Is it even going to be  _ safe _ for the puppy to wander around here? Is your room even  _ clean!?” _

Internally, she was cheering.  _ They’re filthy, disgusting Junkers! Of course it’s not- _

“Why ah course our room is clean, Snowball! Wot, because of ol Roadie ya were expecting a-ahahaha! A  _ pig-sty?  _ Ahahahaha!”

She blinked owlishly as Junkrat slapped victoriously at his knee,  keeled over by his own dumb joke. Completely stonewalled from her early celebration, Mei could only mutter feebly in response, “W-what?”

“Oh, c’mon now Snowball!  _ Get it?  _ Roadie likes pigs,  _ pig-sty  _ means sumthin’s a real dump?  _ Get it, get it, get- _ ”

Mei snapped a little louder, a little meaner than she had been intendeing to, “I get the dumb joke, Junkrat!  _ I get it!”  _

She let herself simmer for a minute in her irritation, then sighed deeply. Adjusting her glasses in embarrassment, she went to apologize for her outburst when Junkrat blew a carefree raspberry with his mouth.

“ _ Pffft,  _ I knew what’cha meant! Jus messin’ with ya, Snowball. No drama!” With a wink, it was Junkrat’s turn to be smug, the look slick as oil on his face as he inquired, “Did ya notice how Roadie left a tic before we did?”

Mei could in fact recall Roadhog slipping away from the room before even some of the other guests had, not a word of goodbye to anyone. But that was such typical behavior for the masked Junker, something so usual for his character, of course she hadn’t questioned it in the least. Still perplexed, she knitted her brows together at Junkrat, motioning for him to explain further. “Okay, yes… And?”

Junkrat could not have sounded more pleased with himself as he explained, “Well, I ordered Pigface ta go tidy up our room so that  _ we  _ could take the pup instead of you, ahahahaha!” He tapped a metal finger against his head,  _ thok! thok!  _ “Pretty clever, eh? Hmmm? Oh,Snowball! You’re so charmed be me bright ideas you’re blushin’! I’m flattered, ahahaha!”

That, of course, was not the reason her face had started to flush red. It was not the soft and girlish blush of being charmed, but the deep bright red of anger. That… that was so sneaky of him, so unfair! It was such… it was such a  _ rat  _ thing to do..!

“You,” she hissed through her teeth, the lone syllable all she could manage to grit out at the moment. “You! I.. I can’t believe you!”

Junkrat’s botched hearing combined with Mei’s infuriated muttering lead to a misunderstanding as Junkrat piped, “Oh, ya don’t believe me, do ya? Aw’rite then!”

They had finally reached the Junker’s private living quarters, and after punching in the security code with the kind of obnoxious zeal only he possessed, Junkrat motioned to the space within with a wide flourish of his arm, the bag dropping to his feet with a thump. “Then take a gander yerself! ‘N no flash photography please, ahahaha!”

He let Mei peek her head in first, after all, who said crooks couldn’t be polite, and took her prolonged silence as one of awe, too busy eating her words to say anything about how nice the room looked.

Swiping a finger under his nose and smearing up the soot on his face, he asked with all the confidence in her answer, “Well? Is it spotless or wot? Looks like a mighty fine place for the lil fella to stay, ainnit?”

Her answer hit him like one his own frags, right in the jewels.

“No.”

Mei leaned back from the room and Junkrat found that she was smiling, her rosy lips upturned as pleased as if she had just had something very tasty to drink. “No, not at all.”

Without ceremony, or further explanation, she plucked the dog from his arm and began hurrying back the way they came, softly humming the dog a lullaby to soothe it back to sleep. 

Junkrat threw his hands up in frustration at the sight of her receding back. “Wot the fuck, Mei!?” He bellowed after her, lunging forward to give chase but turning on his peg last second to scream into the room, “Wot the fuck, Roadie-ahh!”

Their room...honestly looked no different than how they’d left it the previous morning before the Dorado mission, which was a total disaster. There was the typical fare to be expected from a living space shared between two grown men- tinnies of grog crumpled all over the floor, some puking curled tendrils of green mold from their open mouths like tentacles and others still dripping beer yellow and warm as dehydrated piss, grundies riddled with holes and all matters of stains, dirty mags with even dirtier sheilas doing the dirtiest of naughties within the pages (some glued together tight, but not with glue…). The rest of the mess could only be expected from anywhere where Junkrat and Roadhog laid their heads and called home. The sharp, lethal smile of bear traps hidden beneath rancid laundry, some closed but even more open-mouthed and hungry for a careless foot, empty shells of bombs mingling with bombs already packed tight and ready to blow  _ kablooey!  _ On whoever was foolish enough to test the difference, broken spikes from RIP-Tires of old that Junkrat kept as trophies, sitting sharp and busted and bloodied like teeth knocked out in scrap, twisted nails that were impossible to distinguish if they were red with rust or with blood pried from Roadhog’s collection of hooks, which lay in a foreboding pile near a stash of stolen loot from their glory days, treasure they just couldn’t bear to hide or part with. They kept that pile lovingly next to their pile of scrap metal and scavenged parts, but to either Junker, there was no real difference between the two. It was all shiny and special to them.

The room was undeniably the perfect living space for Junkers, but unfortunately, uninhabitable for anyone who wasn’t, especially a three-legged puppy with a curious snout and energetic paws.

At his boss’ infuriated stare, his metal hand nearly crushing the doorframe under his grip, Roadhog merely threw his massive arms into the air, motioning to the room around them, the death trap they called home.

“You wouldn’t  _ ever  _ be able to pay me enough, Rat.” He dropped his arms in defeat at his side and repeated almost miserably as he watched Mei disappear down the hall with the puppy, “ _ Never enough….” _

Normally Junkrat would have jumped his bodyguard and attempted to thrash him, his sheer madness and viciousness enough to help him contend with Roadhog’s power and size, but these weren’t normal circumstances. There was simply no time for a scrap while Mei was escaping with the pup.

“Roadie...ahahaha, oh Roadie, sweet Roadie….” Junkrat sang, his voice pitched high and singsong in fury, “You- _ oooooh, you! _ ” He jabbed one finger at him, sharp as a knife, and with his burning eyes, it seemed as if Junkrat was really about to let him have it when-

He wiggled his fingers in farewell with a giggle, and blowing him a kiss, promised, “Be back soon ya big lug!  _ Ta!” _

 

Mei had been busy familiarizing the pup with her room when there came the rapid fire knocking on the door she had been expecting for the past few minutes or so.

“Mei! Mei! Open up the bloody door, Mei! Your ice wall didn’t last that long!  _ Mei!” _

The pup cradled close to her chest, Mei opened the door and was immediately nose to nose with Junkrat, who did not look the least bit happy to see her. 

Eyebrows arching up under her messy bangs, she exclaimed in mocked surprise, “Junkrat! What a surprise, it’s so good to see you!”

Unamused by her sarcasm, the Junker curled his lip and spat, pointing viciously between the two of them,  “That wasn’t fair!  _ I  _ wanted to take ‘im! The room was supposed ta have been clean!”

Mei shrugged her shoulders, stroking the soft tuft of fur atop the pup’s head. “But it wasn’t clean now, was it? Your room was filthy, Junkrat! It was horrible, that room-” At the rising volume of her voice,the pup whined worriedly in her arms, and after hushing a sincere  _ sorry, sorry!  _ To soothe it, Mei finished with a quiet decisiveness, “That room wasn’t safe for our new friend at all…”

Junkrat had honestly been planning on just snatching the dog and making a break for it, but Mei’s words, combined with the way the pup was looking up at him so innocently, made the Aussie take pause. 

Frowning, he looked around Mei’s room, the sight completely new to him. It was certainly...cleaner than him and Hog’s room. She had a lot of books, which didn’t surprise him in the least considering how bloody smart she was. They lined multiple shelves she had most likely set up herself, and what space wasn’t taken up by books on those shelves was occupied by various potted plants, tiny and shiny like rubber and obviously well tended to, and photographs in decorated frames of happy smiling people, nerds just like Mei if their lab coats gave anything away. There were all sorts of knick knacks too, stuff that was just made for looking cute and nothing else, which Junkrat could appreciate. Most of what he stole served no purpose other than being mighty shiny and looking nicer in his grimy hands than with their original owners. Wrinkling his nose in distaste at a Numbani snow globe containing a smiling person standing hand in hand with an omnic,   he went to eyeballing the floor before he could get too sick to his stomach. Unlike his floor, there were no bombs, or nails, or traps to be found, but a thick plush rug Mei had picked up while in Nepal, and a food and water dish for the dog.

_ Blimey, he hadn’t even thought about those… _

Though her room was much smaller than his too, it was also brighter and fresher, and  most of all it was safer and though it put him through the wringer to spit it out…

“Ahh….Yea. Yea….” Junkrat groaned, toeing his boot into the ground in reluctant defeat. Mei stared long and hard at the filthy scuff he left there but said nothing. “S’pose this is the better spot for our lil ankle biter. Won’t get…” he waved his hand with a dejected sigh,  _ “Blown to lil puppy bits or whateva…” _

When he smiled, he showed none of his ill-cared for teeth, and the sight was completely alien to Mei, just another dream image.

He turned to go, sulky and bitter in not having his way, but stopped suddenly, his eyes lighting up just a bit with thought. “Can I…”

Junkrat was not the one to just lapse into silence, and Mei regarded him suspiciously. “Can you  _ what?” _

He reached his hand out towards the pup, who turned its nose towards his familiar stink,and waggled his fingers. “Y’know, wish it g’night is all?”

His request was so simple, so innocent, it took Mei by surprise, and for a split second she wondered if he was going to try to steal the dog right from out of her arms when she least expected it, but then she saw it. That smile that grew and grew on her the more she saw it, which seemed to be happening a lot since rescuing the pup together.

Junkrat’s  _ real  _ smile. 

He was staring into the pup’s sleepy face, its tongue poking out ever so slightly from its mouth, and just... _ smiling.  _ No ill intent, no cruel humor, just happiness.

She tried to picture how he’d look smiling like that without all the filth on his face, with his hair washed and well, not perpetually smoldering. Perhaps he’d look very strange, not like himself at all, or maybe...he’d even look cute.

Refusing to let that thought go any further, she startled both the pup and Junkrat alike by suddenly thrusting her arms forward, eager to have Junkrat say his peace and leave before she looked at him any closer.

“Here you go! Say good night!” She blurted, grabbing one of the pup’s paws and waving it limply at the now completely bewildered Junker. Making her voice small and cute like she imagined the pup’s would be, she squeaked “Bye bye!”

Giving the pup a good rub behind the ears in farewall, Junkrat echoed in confusion, “Erm...bye bye?” before turning to leave, one befuddled eye trained on her from over his shoulder in his retreat.

It was then, just as the doors were closing on his back, that the pup that had been so exhausted just mere moments ago seemed to find its second wind and began to howl and cry.  _ Loudly. _

“H-hey? Are you alright?” Mei asked the dog worriedly as it began to squirm and fuss in her arms, its cries only growing more desperate the tighter she held onto it. Worried that it’d slip from her grasp and crash to the floor, she set it down only to have it immediately run to the door and jump up on its back legs, its front paws in a scratching frenzy and filling the room with a horrible racket, literal nails screeching against smooth metal-  that only grew worse as Junkrat began to pound on the door from the opposite side, adding to the chaos as he often did.

“Oi! Wot’s goin’ on in there? I leave for a bloody tic and it sounds like yer murderin’ him in there! Mei?! LET! ME! IN!”

Overwhelmed by the surplus of noise pounding in the air and into her head, Mei didn’t bother to argue as she hurried to the door to let Junkrat back in. The pup’s demeanor shifted immediately at his sudden reappearance, its anxious howling giving way to a happy bark as it pounced and pawed at his leg, demanding to be lifted into his arms as if it was the only apology it’d accept.

“Now wot was that all about, huh?” He did not so much ask as he did coo, scooping the pup up in his arms and bumping their noses together, which seemed to be fast becoming their usual greeting. “Ya don’t want me to go, izzat it?” And though he was speaking to the dog, he was looking at Mei imploringly as he asked, “Do ya want me to...stay with ya, huh?”

Mei was upon him at once, taking the pup into her own arms and shaking her head vehemently in opposition. “No. There is no way.  _ No.” _

“Come ooooon, Snowball! I don’t mean all night!” Junkrat hobbled over to where she had retreated with the pup, slung a friendly arm over her shoulder like they had been the best of mates all along and insisted, “I don’t mean all night, ah’course, just ‘til our lil friend tuckers out and won’t notice me leavin’! Not such a bad idea, izzit? No howlin’ or fussin’ at all!”

Mouth quirked in careful contemplation, Mei looked from the pup’s face, its eyes big and hopeful in the heart-wrenching way only a puppy’s could be, and heart just a bit softened, up to Junkrat’s face...to see him attempting to pull the same pitiful face. There was nothing sweet about the way he pulled it off, though, his bulging eyes and pouted lip only making him look ridiculous rather than sympathetic.

She pushed his face away with a snort, unable to contain her laughter. “Don’t- haha- don’t make that face at me!” She commanded, wiping the filth from the hand that had touched him off on her pants,regretting it at once. “That was...it’s  _ too much,  _ Junkrat.”

Without skipping a beat, he tilted his chin high and replied with a wink, “Wot? Too much... _ handsome for ya?!  _ Ahahahaha!”

Mei could only roll her eyes. “Yeah, I don’t think so…”

This seemed to deflate him considerably, and Mei thought she had truly manage to hurt the Junker’s feelings when just as quick he popped back to and snorted, completely unfazed, “Hmph! No wonder you’re stuck wearing those big specs of yer’s! Don’t know a shiny bloke when ya see one!”

She agreed quite cheerfully, “Nope, guess not! But...” she regarded him a bit more pensively then, and after a quick glance at the clock on her desk and then another down back at the pup, sighed from deep in her chest and agreed slowly, carefully, as if she wanted to change her mind even as the words were already slipping past her lips, “I...I suppose you can stay for a little bit longer.” She added quickly, pointing at the dog for emphasis, “Just until they go to sleep, though, understand?  _ I mean it, Junkrat!” _

His face lit up like a bomb going off, expressive and bright at her consent. “Sure, Snowball, ah’course!” 

Without further ado, he plopped himself down to sit on the floor despite the number of empty chairs available, and much to Mei’s dismay, leaned his filthy back right up against her clean bed. Seeing him on the floor, the pup once again began to squirm out of her arms, eager to meet him on level ground, and Mei relented with a small smile, one that grew as the pup raced up between Junkrat’s gangly limbs to rest in his lap with a pleased woof.

There was a bit of awkwardness then as Mei stood away from the pair, watching Junkrat soak up all of the pup’s love and attention, and she swayed on her feet, uncertain of what to do with herself and her empty hands. She peeked at her desk and was reminded of all the work  she’d have to return to sooner than later, research collected from other eco-points waiting to be examined, and mission intel she needed to sort through and review over with Winston . With her brain feeling a bit spongy with exhaustion after the hectic pace the day had brought, the thought of working so late in the night made her grimace, one that apparently did not escape Junkrat’s notice, and she was pulled from staring glumly at her workload by a sudden  _ thump! thump! thump!  _ From where her guest had gotten comfortable.

Mei turned to see Junkrat patting the spot next to him on the floor invitingly, his grin all teeth and good cheer and bad influence. “C’mon, Snowball, jus’ leave it a tic! All them books ‘n piss won’t be going anywhere, come sit with yer mates instead, ahahaha!”

His point was hardly convincing, but honestly, it didn’t need to be. Mei had no desire to work, not really, not when there was the pup to worry about. She could always do the work after Junkrat left, or even early in the morning if it truly bothered her enough.

Besides, this way she’d be able to keep a careful eye on Junkrat and his thieving hands, make sure he didn’t swipe any of her belongings while her back was turned...

That’s what Mei convinced herself anyways as she padded over to his side and dropped down to her knees in a delicate kneel, sitting close to him  _ only  _ so she could reach out and stroke the pup’s fur...which was just as dirty as the man it was resting on.

“We really need to  give it a bath soon.” She mused, staring intently at the dried blood caking up its black and white patches. “We don’t want it to have to worry about fleas, or a skin infection on top of everything else. Maybe tomorrow-”

“A bath?!” Junkrat reacted as if she had suggested they throw it into a wood chipper instead of a tub. Distraught, he wrapped both arms around the pup’s body as if to shield it from her words, protect it from the mere mention of soap and water. “We ain’t givin’ it no bloody bath! It’s fine!”

Irritated, Mei pulled one of his arms from off the pup and ruffled its fur, scattering flakes of blood and ash to the floor for emphasis. “What is fine about this? Look at how horrible, it’s still covered in its own blood! It needs-”

“A name!”

That certainly caught Mei off guard, and it only surprised her more to see Junkrat just as astonished by his own shout.

Slapping a hand to his forehead, he began to laugh in sudden realization, the sound muffled as he dragged his palm down his eyes and over his mouth, pulling at his skin. “Ahahaha-we, ahahaha! We forgot to give it a bloody name! All this time! Ahahaha!”

Mei offered no excuse as she shrugged sheepishly in reply. “Yeah, heheh... a few of the others actually asked about its name and were surprised it didn’t have one yet…I told them we just hadn’t had the chance to decide on a good one yet.”

_ We. _

Her own words gave her pause. To think that she’d ever refer to herself and Junkrat as ‘we’, as a team, let alone one working together to take care of a puppy...it truly was surreal. It would have been just as simple for her to say “ _ I  _ haven’t picked a name out yet…” but the idea of not letting the Junker have a say in the name hadn’t even crossed her mind.  Junkrat had been by the pup’s side just as long as she had, gave it love and care no different (except maybe just a little bit more eccentric) than she did. Yes, he deserved to have a say too, and no matter what decision they came too, it was going to be something they decided on together _.  _

_ Together... _ she lifted her chin to smile shyly at him and was met instead with specks of spittle landing on her glasses from a raspberry he was blowing with his mouth.

“Pfffft! Speak for yerself, Snowball! Oi already know a dinkum name for our ankle biter here!” He gloated as if the matter was already settled and accounted for. He gave the pup a heavy pat upon the flat of its head, quite pleased with himself. “Wow mate, I give ya a leg ‘n a name! Am I generous or wot? Ahahaha!”

Her hands busy cleaning her glasses, Mei squinted at Junkrat in equal parts blindness and impatience. “Oh,  _ you  _ already picked out a name? Without asking me? How  _ thoughtful  _ of you, Junkrat!”

Her sarcasm was lost on him as he nodded in honest agreement. “I know, right? Now ya don’t have to worry yer pretty lil head ‘bout thinkin’ one up!”

When she slipped her glasses back onto her nose, Mei did not so much ask as she did challenge him, “And just what is our new friend’s name going to be?” She propped her chin snugly into her palm, ready to be amazed by his answer. “Go on, I’d  _ love  _ to hear it!”

Beginning to catch on that Mei was not nearly as thrilled as she was pretending to be, Junkrat pushed back in retaliation, his smile growing wider but no more sincere with his intent. “Well then, I’d  _ love  _ to tell ya!” 

Coughing into his clenched fist to clear his throat, Junkrat motioned his arms wide and inviting for Mei to behold the sleeping dog and announced as proudly as any new father showing off their newborn, “Mei, I want’cha to say g’day to... _ Jamie Jr.!” _

Mei laughed so full and loud in response that the dog lifted its head from its paws to stare at her in sleepy puzzlement, one ear cocked high. Junkrat watched her turn from him with shaking shoulders, clutching at her sides in glee she couldn’t contain, and frowned. Why was it Mei hardly laughed like this when he  _ was _ trying to be funny? She seemed to laugh most of all on the rare occasions he wasn’t just screwin’ around, and he folded his arms with a  _ hmph.  _ He wanted to be annoyed with her, wanted to be mad, but…  Watching her lost to her own hysterics, all crinkled eyes and flushed cheeks, he found he could not feel any more different. In fact, he felt quite strange, right to the slimy ends of his guts. It wasn’t the same heat that usually accompanied his fury, white hot and incinerating him from the inside out like fire, a heat so terrible he wanted nothing more than to share it with everyone in the form of a bomb. This feeling was just... _ warm.  _ Not like a bomb, or a gasoline blaze...but like his insides were getting smothered in a warm blanket, like his heart was getting a.... _ hug.  _ He folded his arms tighter still at the thought, attempting to strangle the unfamiliar sensation right out of his body and into the dirt where he could stomp it out under his peg leg. 

“Wot’s so funny, Snowball?” He sniffed, trying to kill the butterflies in his gut with his usual crude humor, “Ya catch a glimpse of yerself in the mirror or sumthin’?”

The climatologist didn’t seem to hear his wisecrack over her own giggling, and instead asked him back, the question muffled from underneath the hand trying to contain her laughter, “Heehee-and...hee, why should we name the puppy that?”

It nearly seemed as if the two had swapped their usual roles now, Mei the one trapped in a laughing fit, Junkrat the one huffing in exasperation as he motioned forcefully at the dog’s body.

“Whaddaya mean, why?! Isn’t it obvious? It has a lil peg leg jus’ like me! London to brick its name’s gotta be Jamie Jr.”

His unusual Australian slang only seemed to tickle her further, and once more she fell into hysterics, this time enough to illicit a breathless, not at all graceful,  _ snort. _

Mei tried to hide that it had happened, of course. She immediately hid her face in her hands, her glasses pushed up and over her fingers, but it was no use. Junkrat had heard it clear as a magpie’s screech, and soon the racket of his own boisterous laughter was drowning out her’s.

“Ahahahaha! Buh-blimey, Mei!” He cried, leaning into her shoulder for support, and surprisingly, finding it as she leaned right back into him, the duo collapsed together in their laughing fits. “Ya givin’ Roadie a real run for his moolah snortin’ like that! Ahahaha!”

Mei slapped his shoulder, nearly snorting again. “Oh my gosh, shut up! You’re such a bully!”

Usually when Mei called him this (which she did more frequently than not) her cheeks were inflamed hot with anger while her eyes remained steely and cold in judgement. So to hear her simply tease him with the name instead of hurling it at him like a projectile meant to maim him,  her face only red from being breathless with laughter and her eyes shimmering with unshed tears behind her glasses, bright and happy, Junkrat could only stare at her, transfixed.

His tongue suddenly felt heavy and unfamiliar in his own mouth, and he struggled to find something, anything to say in that moment, so he took to gnawing the inside of his cheek, which was puffy and heavily scarred under his teeth from years of the habit. 

“Yer…” he mumbled through bites of his own cheek, perplexed as to why no good words were finding their way from his brain to his mouth, irritated that he couldn’t just blast through them like he did with most other obstacles in his path. “Yer...a sweet sheila, Mei. A real pound of cake-”

There had been an unusual energy brimming just beneath the surface of this quiet moment between the pair, something warm and electric between where their shoulders touched and where Junkrat’s words hung quietly in the air. It would be difficult to say where this moment would have gone, what unspoken words were hanging on Mei’s open lips in response to the Junker’s compliment if the dog hadn’t startled them by reacting first.

Where it had been dozing peacefully on Junkrat’s lap just a moment ago, barely a twitch even as their laughter swelled and pitched overhead, something in Junkrat’s voice made it sit up with a bark, ears poised high and eyes wide alert. It stared at him intently, the beginnings of another bark warbling in the back of its throat, as if daring him to speak again.

Exchanging a confused look with Mei first, Junkrat smoothed the dog’s ears flat under his hand, trying to read the expression on its fluffy face. “Wot izzit, mate? Ya were sound asleep ‘til I said sumthin’ about Mei being like cake-Ah!”

Yipping, the dog reared up in his lap and began to eagerly lick at the Junker’s face, its paws an excited dance against the bare skin of his chest, which was still smarting from the blast he’d received courtesy of Los Muertos just a day previous.

“ _ Hooley dooley!  _ Watch the paws, watch the bloody paws!” 

Wincing, he plucked the pup from his lap and set it on the floor, where undeterred by the rejection, it began to race about in a happy circle, tripping over its own feet in its excitement, its prosthetic barely steadying it upright in time.

Rubbing at his aching chest with one hand, the claw lines already stinging under his fingers,  Junkrat used the other to hook a thumb towards the pup’s clumsy celebration in question. “Wot’s gotten into ‘im?”

Mei, who was watching the dog closely, eyebrows knitted together in thought, only shook her head. “I’m...not sure, but I have an idea. Stay here and hold onto our friend, okay? I want to test something.”

Junkrat grimaced at the word  _ test,  _ never the academic type himself, but complied all the same. “Sure, sure…” He gathered the wiggling pup back into his lap as Mei stood and padded away to the other side of the room, hands clasped behind her back as if she could already tell what was going to happen next. When she was beside her desk on the opposite wall, she turned and crouched low to the ground where she’d be level with the pup’s eyes.

“Lil friend!” She sang, wiggling her fingers to tempt the pup into running to her side. She whistled invitingly, the sound soft and sweet.

It looked over her way with a small woof, but...it did not come bounding over like it had many times before with the same greeting. Instead, it turned back to stare into Junkrat’s dirty face, as if waiting for him to speak again. Not quite getting Mei’s angle, he shrugged his burnt shoulders in confusion at the woman across the room. “That did rubbish, Snowball...Now wot?”

“We’ll see…” She answered vaguely, unwilling to share her hypothesis with him just yet. Nodding, Mei tried again in the same happy, welcoming sing-song of voice as before, “Puppy! Oh, puppy!”

This time the dog toddled from Junkrat’s lap, just a couple of steps,but did not approach her with its usual immediate scamper. Its entire body had begun to wiggle with an energy it could barely contain, as if it could sense it was about to receive something it wanted very much.

Giggling, absolutely certain at this point, Mei finally outstretched her arms wide, and whispered just above her breath, just to make absolutely sure-

_ “...Cake?” _

The pup was across the room and into her embrace in an exhilarated ruckus of scrambling claws and eager howling in moments, jumping up on its back legs to lick her smiling face as if she had shared with it a great treasure.

Watching the scene unfold, Junkrat could hardly believe it, didn’t  _ want _ to if he was being honest. It was one thing for him to admit defeat even once in a single day, but  _ twice?  _ There was no bloody way, not when his name was so much better!

“Oi, Jamie Jr.!” He called out roughly, slapping at his knees to get the dog’s attention back on him. “Jamie Jr.!”

So focused on Mei cheering its name like a song,  the pup didn’t even seem to hear his calls, and practically pleading at this point, desperate to at least have this one small victory tucked under his belt, Junkrat cried, “Jamie Jr., c’mere!  _ Pretty please with a cherry bomb on top, mate?” _

It wasn’t a battle he was meant to win, though. Alone on the other side of the room, the realization sat bitter on his tongue and screwed up his face in an ugly scowl, one he turned to the floor with a huff. “Cake?” He muttered to his boot in disbelief, “What kinda rubbish name is that?”

“One our friend here really seems to like, Junkrat.”

He didn’t bother to look up at Mei as she strolled back to his side, the puppy skipping alongside at her heels. It stopped before him to gaze at him quite sweetly, all shining eyes and twitching ears, and he frowned back at it half-heartedly in return. 

Only a little hesitant, Mei patted his arm in awkward comfort. “I mean, don’t feel too bad, Junkrat. Jamie Jr. does have a certain... _ charm  _ to it?” The kindness in her tone did nothing to hide the fact that she was lying to him, but the thought was still there none the less. “But I think Cake is who... _ Jamie Jr.  _ is really supposed to be. Maybe even who they were all along. We only just figured it out.”

Junkrat took her kind words with a snort and a roll of his eyes, but at her shy smile, he dropped the defeated slump in his shoulders and sighed from deep in his chest, stirring up all the ash and soot long since settled in his lungs. Why did Mei have to be so nice, so smart? Why’d she have to go and make sense all the time when it was so fun not to? Why...why wasn’t it like pulling teeth for him to hear her out?

“Aw’rite, aw’rite Snowball, me pity party’s over, ya can shove off now!” he groaned,  shrugging her hand off from him so he could crouch down to... _ Cake’s  _ level. He took a moment to stare intently into its face, as if testing its will, its certainty in its choice.

“It’s not as ace as Jamie Jr, “ Junkrat mourned aloud, “It ain’t even a cool Junker name like Hog’s or me own… _ But!”  _ He booped it on the nose with a sudden cackle, and declared proudly, “Ahahaha! As far as pup names go, it certainly-”

“Junkrat,  _ no-” _

_ “Takes the cake,  _ ahahaha!”

  
  


“While we’re on the subjects of names, I gotta ask ya, Mei…”

“Hmm?”

“Why don’t ya ever call me by mine?”

Where just moments ago, Mei had been struggling hard not to doze off on the floor, Junkrat’s unexpected question certainly woke her up.

It was late, late into the evening now, Cake long since asleep since the triumph of discovering its name, but still Junkrat remained in Mei’s room, trapped under the pup’s sleeping body as if Cake had planned it that way, as if it knew he would try to leave as soon as it went to sleep. The pair had been sitting on the floor against the bed for quite some time now, defeated after multiple failed attempts to simply switch Cake from Junkrat’s lap to Mei’s, the dog beginning to keen and cry at once at the slightest hint it was being moved. No longer dead exhausted from its injuries, the pup seemed determined to never spend a night alone again, and as of now, it certainly had nothing to worry about.

As hyper as he was, Mei had been expecting Junkrat to remain as twitchy and manic as ever even as the night dwindled on by, all wisecracks and abrupt movements as he usually was, but now, slumped right beside him, she was reminded that after two days without sleep, even the crazed Junker was still a human being.

His body was mostly still now, only a shake of his organic foot here or a tremble in his robotic hand there, and even his eyes had stopped their frantic shifting under the burden of being open for so long. Even the embers in his hair had smoldered out, no longer smoking or glowing at the tips, as if extinguished by his sense of exhaustion.

The two had honestly not been on the subject of anything at all at the moment, lapsed into silence as they battled just to keep their heads up and eyes open, the hope that Cake would eventually fall into a deep enough sleep for Junkrat to escape dying with a whisper, and Mei could only peer at him through bleary eyes.

“W-what…?” she yawned, rubbing at her face in a weak attempt to get some feeling back into her cheeks, which were warm with drowsiness under her palm. She leaned into her hand with a pleased hum, and murmured again, “What?”

His mouth open in a jaw-cracking yawn of his own, Junkrat lolled his head over his shoulder to stare at her intently. Even with all the usual black soot on his face, Mei could tell the dark rings under his eyes were from more than just dirt and ash and she was flooded with the bizarre temptation to lean over and pass her hand over them, closing his eyes like she would a corpse, bringing him peace. Instead, she clenched her fists tightly in her lap, cracking her knuckles with soft pops until the feeling passed.

He inhaled deeply, whether to find his courage or find the energy to speak Mei could not tell. When he finally did speak, he rambled just a bit in his fatigue, but his question was still clear. “Oi said...ya never call me be me  _ real  _ name. Ya always jus call me Junkrat! Which is apples, I know it’s a bloody cool name,  _ everyone  _ calls me Junkrat, even Hog, even the wanted posters and the news ‘ports,  but not Doc, cuz-ahaha- she calls me  _ Mr. Fawkes,  _ can ya believe it _...but!  _ Me mates? Me  _ good  _ mates? They call me by me  _ actual  _ name too, they call me Jamie...Why don’t’cha, Mei?” He stared into her eyes, unflinching. “Why don’t’cha, huh?”

Lips parted slightly, Mei gawked at him, taken aback by the accusation, the weight, in his words. She had heard the rumors about people becoming more emotional, more honest in the midnight hours, but had found the claims to be completely unfounded by scientific fact and reasoning. Apparently, this was a phenomenon worth further research…

“Well, miss smarty specs, ya got an answer for me or wot? Don’t leave me waitin’, I hate, hate,  _ haaate  _ waitin’...haha...”

His deflated laughter was pitiful to her ears, and Mei rolled her words over thoughtfully in her mouth before speaking them, trying to be mindful of what she was going to say.

“I’ve never called you by your real name because…” wringing her hands together, she realized that with Junkrat, it’d be better just to spit it out than tiptoe around the issue, and sighed, “Well, we weren’t mates- _ friends.  _ I didn’t...I hated you and I didn’t want to be your friend at all. So, um...so why would I call you anything else but a bully?”

The word  _ bully  _ hung like a guillotine in the air above their heads, and Mei was worried it’d come crashing down any second, severing the shaky peace that had begun to grow between the two of them. She wasn’t sorry for being honest with the Aussie, truly she wasn’t, but she was sorry for the sting the confession might cause him, though she was baffled as to why, equally perplexed as to why his feelings should concern her when-

“Yeah, I know all that.” He took her confession blithely, seemingly unfazed by her harsh words, like hearing a song he had grown quite tired of on the radio for the umpteenth time. “Ya were always gonna be keepin’ an eye out for me ‘n Roadie, ‘n I’m a bad, rotten bloke who should, ahaha-  _ ‘Look somewhere else!’  _ away from ya or else…” 

His smile retreated into a thin, serious line as he posed another question, this one more demanding than the last. “But wot ‘bout now? Ya think we can maybe be mates, now, Snowball?”

Mei had been gazing intently at Cake as Junkrat spoke, her eyes following the dips and points she had weaved into the collar, up sky high blue, down deep sea blue… but at his honest request, she met his eyes to give him the sincerity he deserved, and answered unwavering in her honesty-

“We’ll see.”

Her response did not seem to wound him in the least, and in fact, he even cracked a grin. “Yea?” He nodded, and then sighed deeply in content, as if he’d found the peace he’d been hoping for. “Thanks, Mei. Good on ya.”

Having said all that he wanted to, Junkrat flashed her a thumb’s up, and just as suddenly with a loud snore, his head pitched back limp and he was down for the count, a dribble of drool already bubbling along in the corner of his lip.

Though he couldn’t see it, Mei nodded back, and smiled. “Yes, good on ya... _ Jamie.” _

And this was where Mei awoke from her strange dream, only…

Noticing a warm pressure on her chest, she looked down and realized it had not in fact been a dream. His filthy face nestled between her breasts, his robotic arm slung over her lap to clasp at her hand, the big bully himself was using her as his pillow!

Junkrat had been in the middle of a strange dream himself. In the dream, he had been skipping happily through a landscape of rolling hills, as soft and pleasant as peaches. The sun had been warm on his skin, not an ache to be found in his body, and his head had been filled with a lovely hum that soothed the frantic rush of his thoughts and slowed them to into the sweet, slow drip of syrup. It had been such a far cry from his usual dreams, which were filled with raging fires and radiation that could peel metal and skin like mere wet paper, and destruction and loss, and every other terrible thing he couldn’t push from the forefront of his mind when asleep. It was like his brain had decided to take a break from making him relive all the torments his life had to offer and rolled back the barbed-wired fence to let him go free for a night.

Hooley dooley, what a ripper of a dream it had been! He would have never left that beautiful, warm place if he had any say in it, but-

He awoke to a flurry of fists and slaps being rained upon his body without mercy, without restraint, Mei’s voice pissed and shrill in his ears. “Jamie, you are the worst! Look, you drooled all over me- _disgusting!_ And urghhhh, all this filth! You’re not going to get away with this! _Wake up so I can kill you, Jamie!_ ”

A bright smile stretching across his face even under her violent barrage, Junkrat dared to ask, hopeful that he was really awake and no longer dreaming-

“Wait-ow! Did ya-ow! Jus-oof! Call me  _ Jamie?! Ahahaha!” _

“Yes!” Mei huffed, giving one last, especially painful slug to his shoulder. “But you ever do that again, next time I’ll be calling you an ambulance instead! Understood?!”

Oh, even with the painful knot in his neck and his skin singing with the sting of Mei’s slaps, Junkrat understood very well…

Him, Mei and Cake? They were going to be the very best of mates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually may or may not have a 5th epilogue style chapter for this story that'd set them up as a couple but I'm unsure about tacking it on. Maybe I'll add it if the gets a warm enough response, but if not, I think it's fine just the way it is as well. 
> 
> See everyone again in the upcoming update for Something Strange,But Kinda Nice Too real soon!!!


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